


Love Interruption

by thedevilwearswestwood



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, It'll get dark in later chapters, James Moriarty - Freeform, Molliarty fluff, Molly Hooper - Freeform, Mollyarty, Sherlock - Freeform, Violence, domestic molliarty, graphic violence warning for later chapters, molliarty - Freeform, sherlock bbc - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-12
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-01-15 12:18:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 71,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1304650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedevilwearswestwood/pseuds/thedevilwearswestwood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James Moriarty is back from the dead and can't resist a visit to his favorite morgue worker Molly Hooper. I really suck at descriptions. It's fluffy at first but it'll take a darker turn as the story goes on. Strictly Molliarty as far as relationships go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Did you miss me?" The familiar Irish accent pierced through the darkness of Molly Hooper's apartment and sent a chill through her. She froze and her phone slipped out of her hand and clattered to the floor with a loud crash. She took a deep breath and flipped on the light switch, stepping so her back was flattened against the door in an attempt to distance herself from the man sitting in her armchair.

"What are you doing here?" her voice was shaky even to her own ears. She knew better than to ask how he got into her apartment. Jim Moriarty would consider breaking into her apartment child's play. He had certainly broken into higher security places in the past. His eyes looked her up and down as if sizing her up and he smiled as he rose from the arm chair with an easy grace.

Her hands clenched into two fists at her side as he slowly crossed the room to where she was standing without a word. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she was trying her hardest to keep from showing how frightened she was. She'd been worried this day would come ever since Jim Moriarty broadcast his face on every television in England nearly four months ago now.

"I asked you a question first, don't be rude." He countered, his face didn't betray a single emotion. He slid his hands into his suit's pants pockets and shrugged. "Oh come on Molly." He made a face at her and clicked his tongue like he was scolding a child. "I know it's been a while, but don't tell me you've forgotten about me already."

"It'd be awfully hard to forget about you after that stunt you pulled on the telly a few months back wouldn't it?" She instantly regretted her sarcastic comment as his eyebrows raised in surprise. She had to remember she was talking to Jim Moriarty, the genius criminal, not the Jim who had worked in IT at the hospital and who she had fallen for years ago.

His lips curled into a wide smile and he looked her over as if regarding her all over again. Almost as quickly as the grin had appeared it was gone and it was replaced instead with a pout. "You're mad." It wasn't a question.

She knew better than to fall for the puppy dog eyes he was making and the sad voice, but she felt her heartbeat speed up regardless. "Mad? I haven't seen or talked to you in years, and now you broke into my house. I don't think mad begins to cover what I am with you." she folded her arms over her chest and resigned herself to stand her ground.  _If he's going to kill me I won't be giving him the pleasure of seeing me beg_ , she thought morbidly.

"Why'd you do it Jim? You saw me and said "oh she's nice and pathetic, I'll use her to spy on Sherlock." I'm sure it was great fun for you."

His face was emotionless as he seemed to ponder what to say to her question. "I didn't need  _you_  to spy on Sherlock." He chided, "Back then you weren't even important to him."

"You know what? I may be thirty three and still single, but that doesn't mean I'm just some pathetic girl you can toy with for your own sick amusement."

"Ooh" his lips tightened into a small 'o' of surprise before he smiled again. There was something about his smile that was unsettling. The phrase 'wolf in sheep's clothing' popped into her head. "You've changed since the last time we talked. You have some fire in you now! I like it!" his dark eyes fixed on hers, burning with intensity.

Molly knew it was stupid but he still had the power to turn her legs into jelly when he looked at her like that. "Look, if you're going to kill me then do it. I'm not going to beg you to let me go." He looked startled and his eyebrows furrowed in what looked like shock. Of course, if he was genuinely surprised he managed to compose himself almost immediately and laughed instead.

"Kill you? Darling, I don't like to get my hands dirty. And I surely wouldn't be doing any dirty work like that in this suit." He motioned to his suit and shook his head, "If I had wanted to kill you I would have placed one of my men on the building opposite yours and had them do it." He walked to the window and dramatically pushed her curtain aside. "Come here." He motioned for her to come to the window and she begrudgingly obeyed. As she knelt to try to grab her phone from the ground Jim's voice thundered loudly, scaring her back up and away from it again.

"LEAVE IT!" his voice was cold as ice and his face was a mask of veiled fury. "I'm not going to let you text your buddy Sherlock, am I?" An instant later he was the picture of cool perfection again. She assumed that was his idea of an apology. "Come." He motioned for Molly to come even closer. "You see, if I wanted you dead I could have one of my many snipers right there on that roof." He pointed to the apartment building across from hers and a cold chill swept through her body as he nonchalantly explained how he would have had her killed. "You would have been dead before you even knew what was happening."

Her heart was racing in her chest, equal parts terrified and just plain nervous to be so close to him again.  _I'm sick_ , she thought in her panic,  _why was it that even when I'm in this situation I find myself attracted to men like him?_  "I've had my eye on you Molly Hooper." He seemed to linger on her name as if he was savoring it. "I must say I've been rather disappointed in you."

" _You_  were disappointed in  _me_?" she shot back with an incredulous look.

"Helping Sherlock foil my excellently laid out plans like his loyal lapdog. Getting engaged to that doofus who was basically a Sherlock knockoff. That hurt." He placed a hand over his heart for emphasis.

"Tom was not a... a Sherlock knockoff." Molly defended angrily, "He looked nothing like Sherlock!"

"I was hoping you'd at least pretend to fall in love with someone who looked more like me. We know I'm the attractive one after all." He taunted with a smirk.

"It's not enough for you to hurt me the one time by lying to me and using me is it? You're sick. You know, I liked you a lot. I'm sure you don't feel emotions like rejection or pain, but I'm not a psychopath so I do. And it hurts to be used like a sick joke."

"You're not listening" he appeared calm at first, "You're not listening!" fire seemed to flare across his face and he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "You're smarter than that Molly. I already told you I didn't need you to get to Sherlock. I thought about it, but then I saw how utterly unimportant you were to him." His words cut into her, hitting every insecurity she constantly felt.

"Sherlock is blind to you. He was blind to the ways you looked at him, blind to how smart you are, and blind to how cute you were as well!" he slammed his hand against the wall, making Molly jump. "Sherlock only focuses on the negatives with you. He never even noticed how adorable your nose was." Her head snapped up at the mention of her nose and she was immediately brought back to when she first talked to him, when he had told her she had a cute nose before asking her to meet him for coffee. She was positive he was bringing that up to manipulate her, but it still felt nice to be reminded of how he had been.

"I didn't have to talk to you at all, I just decided I wanted to. I'm not one to deny myself what I want."

"Then why use me and play gay just to toy with Sherlock?"

"That was just too good to resist. I can't help myself when it comes to having a little fun at Sherlock's expense. It's just too easy sometimes."

Molly shook her head and sighed, "Jim, why are you here?" She repeated the question she had first asked him, hoping she'd actually get an answer this time. "He still doesn't see your importance you know? Not fully, you're just a pawn he saves until he decides he needs your help. I bet he didn't even think to check on you when I broadcast my little special." He waited for a response and clicked his tongue in disappointment as he clearly read her easily. "Just like I thought. You know, for a genius Sherlock really is a big dummy sometimes isn't he?"

"Why would he have checked on me? I'm not important to you. You talk about pawns, but that's exactly what I was to you."

"Unimportant." He laughed and that same smile was back, "You're anything but unimportant to me. I didn't continually spend time with you because you were unimportant to me." He traced a finger lightly along her jaw and it felt like he left a trail of electricity in his wake. "I kept an eye on you these years I was gone, because I missed you."

Molly felt like she was frozen to the floor, the words  _I missed you_  thundering through her head like she was losing her mind. She reached up and slapped him across the face, hard, surprising even herself. "Ooh, good!" Jim cheered and sounded excited. "Not the reaction I would have expected!"

"What are you even talking about, saying you missed me? You've never done anything but lie to me. Pretending to be Jim from IT, pretending to be gay for Sherlock and embarrassing me, and then just leaving after I asked if it was true and not talking to me again. You tried to kill my friend, someone I care about a lot. And you expect me to believe I'm so important to you that you missed me?!" He was unbelievable, except that Molly know he wasn't. He was both slightly insane and probably completely psychopathic. Nothing was fully unbelievable with Jim Moriarty.

"Well I didn't expect to like you after we got coffee the first time. I figured if Sherlock thought you were dull I couldn't possibly find you interesting." He was still smirking at her and it was beginning to really get on her nerves. "And you are dull. You lead an ordinary life. Working in the morgue, and then coming home to your cat Toby at night, it's a life of total routine."

"Wow, thanks." She tried not to take offense to his words and to not care what he said, but it stung nonetheless.

"But dull as you were, I liked you. Your innocence radiates off of you like a perfume, the way you  _care_  about people. That's something I certainly lack, it's fascinating. I found I genuinely enjoyed being with you. Even when we just got coffee on our breaks at work, or when I would come over here at night and distract you from that show with the singing morons."

Molly's face turned scarlet at the mere mention of the way he would distract her from her television shows and she could tell that pleased him. "I regretted you having to find out who I really was, and that was truly the most shocking part of it all."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Oh, don't play coy, it's pointless. I can already tell that you do." He snapped, "Genius here, I can see through any lie you try to tell me as easily as if you broadcast them over your head in neon." He tapped his temple for emphasis, "Don't lie to a professional liar. So now we've circled right back to my original question." He spun his finger in a circle and stepped into her. She instinctively took a few steps back again and crossed her arms over her chest. "So did you miss me?"

"I missed the Jim I thought I knew. I don't know the real Jim Moriarty, I only know an act."

"Well I'm no angel like your dear Sherlock, and I'm not dumb as a rock like your ex-fiancé. But I'd be willing to bet I treated you the best." He sing-songed the last sentence.

"You stopped talking to me entirely when I asked if you were gay and we got into an argument. I even tried posting an apology on my blog so you would see it and talk to me."

"And you found the truth out from Sherlock shortly after did you not? I highly doubt you were worried or missed me much longer after that."

"I tried not to."

That caught him off guard again and he studied her more carefully. "But you did anyways. My, my, my. You do have a weak spot for us sociopaths don't you?"

"Maybe it's just my type." His eyes bore into her like he could see straight through her. When they had been together, however short it had been, he had always seemed so sweet and gentle. There was none of that in the Jim she was seeing now. His eyes burned with intensity like fire, but she knew that in less than a second he could be giving her big puppy dog eyes. Or they could be blank and emotionless again. He was fluid and changeable at the drop of a hat. This was the real Jim Moriarty, the one Sherlock and John knew. But she also saw flashes of the Jim she knew, and she had a feeling very few people saw that, even fleetingly.

He looked out the window and Molly took the opportunity to truly look him over. It was impossible to ignore how great he looked in a suit, she had never seen him in anything but jeans and t-shirts. He turned and caught her looking at him and she didn't even bother looking away. Jim crossed the few steps to her and moved a strand of her long brown hair behind her ear. When he tucked his hand back into his suit pocket he found his hand was uncharacteristically shaky. "I almost came here after my little discussion with your friends on the day you and I argued."

"Why?" Molly's voice was shaky and her whole body felt like it was overflowing with nervous energy. Being near Jim was like being near the edge of a cliff, scary but somehow exciting.

"I was going to tell you the truth about who I really was. I tried to lie to myself and say I wanted to come here to brag about who I was, and about how easily I had fooled you. I'm good at lying to myself. But I knew it was just because I wanted to see you one last time. I wanted the chance to explain it myself."

"You should have, maybe I would have resented you less."

"You wouldn't have forgiven me. You were too hung up on precious Sherlock anyways. You expect me to believe that sweet Molly Hooper would be okay knowing the guy she'd been dating was really a criminal mastermind?"

"No, I wouldn't have been okay with it. But it would have been better than being told the guy I had developed real feelings for had been using me  _and_  was a criminal mastermind."

"Well, I couldn't come here regardless. I'm not one to form attachments to people Molly. No one has ever gotten close to me, you posed a threat."

"Then why are you here now?" This was the third time she had asked him that question now and she wanted an answer. He could see that, and gave in, finally spelling it out for her. " _Because_  I'm not one to get attached. But I missed you the whole two years I was supposedly dead. I couldn't stop thinking about you, I couldn't stop wondering if you were sad when you found out I had killed myself."

"You didn't kill yourself."

"You didn't know that."

"Yes Jim, I was sad. I felt horrible about being sad too, because you were ruining someone who I cared about's life. I felt guilty for being sad because you've killed innocent people and done horrible things. But I was still sad, because I still cared about you."

"You may care about Sherlock, but he only cares about you when he needs you." Jim's words were harsh, something she was learning he was very good at.

"Stop- just stop!" Molly finally snapped, "Sherlock does care about me, he's my friend."

"He doesn't care about you like I do!" Molly flinched at the anger in his voice, and pulled away from him. She shook her head and found she was at a loss for words. "I'm sorry Molly." He seemed to surprise himself with the apology. "I don't want you to be afraid of me. I won't hurt you. You see, you're  _my_  pressure point." When she stared at him blankly he continued. "I didn't see that three years ago and it lead to you helping Sherlock to foil my plan. I had an assassin watching every person I thought would be important to Sherlock Holmes, but not you. I told myself it's because you were still unimportant, but really it was that I couldn't bear to hurt you even then."

"Why? Why do you care about me when you don't care about anyone else?" Molly found herself reverting to being more timid as a different kind of nerves took over her body. She wasn't scared of him any more, not right now. She was scared of herself and what she would do.

"Because I'm not just Jim Moriarty the brilliant consulting criminal to you. I can be someone else too." She was shocked by his openness and knew this was a side of him he never showed to anyone. He was allowing himself to be vulnerable to her. "You mean you can drop your mask when you're with me."

"Molly don't confuse yourself into thinking I'm a good guy at heart. I'm not on the side of the angels like you. I'm good at what I do, and I  _love_  what I do." She knew he meant what he was saying. She also knew that was his way of giving her the chance to ask him to leave, but she didn't. Instead she let him close the gap between them, pulling her to him and pushing his lips hungrily against her own. She melted into him, her hands nervously clutching the back of his suit as he deepened the kiss. This was wrong, she was making out with her friend's enemy. And more than that she was making out with someone who she knew was genuinely dangerous, but he didn't scare her.

Jim easily lifted her and laid her on the couch, climbing on top of her. Her mind flashed back to when he had come over to her apartment for the first time almost three years ago and they had ended up in a similar position. But this time it was different. By all technicalities she was kissing the same person, but in reality it was as if she was with an entirely different person. His hands roamed over her body, slowly taking in her curves and exploring her in a way her ex-fiancé tom never had. He pulled away and moved so he was kneeling on the couch, one leg on either side of her, leaving her gasping for breath beneath him. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and folded it, carefully setting it on her coffee table. When he saw her expression he gave her a wicked smile and shrugged. "Westwood." Was his only explanation before he sunk back into her, bringing his lips now to her neck and relishing the way she arched her back into him as he gently bit down.

He trailed his lips down her neck and collarbone leaving a trail on soft kisses in his wake as he made his way to her blouse. He unbuttoned the first button and continued to trail kisses down her torso as he undid the rest of her shirt and threw it to the ground. Molly felt her face heat up with embarrassment as she remembered she was wearing a boring white bra. She hadn't expected to need anything sexier today when she thought she'd just be going to work. She brought her hands up to her face and attempted to hide how mortified she was.

"Crap, I'm sorry." She apologized as Jim peeled her hands away. He pinned her hands easily above her head in a way Molly could only describe as hot. "What's wrong?" he raised an eyebrow as he waited for her to answer. "It's just- ah- I'm wearing a mom bra, it's embarrassing."

"Molly Hooper if you think I'm concerned about what bra you're wearing you have no idea how men think." He scolded her gently and then his face instantly reverted into smoldering bedroom eyes again. "The only thing I'm thinking about is what's underneath it." Her heart raced and her stomach twisted nervously at his words and she instantly felt better again. He kissed her again, keeping her hands pinned above her head as he pushed his hips into hers. He heard her tiny intake of breath as she did it, so innocent and shy and kissed her harder. He needed her, he needed her touch, and he needed to hear her moan again.

He freed her hands in order to use his own, "Now let's get rid of this since it offends you so much." He slowly slid his hands underneath her and undid her bra, tossing it far away from them over the couch. Molly felt completely exposed like she hadn't been in a while, especially since he was still fully dressed in his white button up, tie and suit pants. She grabbed his tie and pulled him down to her roughly. It was clear on Jim's face he enjoyed it and he genuinely grinned as he looked at her. "I'm more offended by how much clothing you're still wearing." She teased, trying hard to channel her inner vixen.

"These clothes cost more than some people's cars love, I'd hope you weren't offended by them."

"Just get them off." She laughed pulling the tie free and purposely tossing it to the ground to see his reaction. He widened his eyes and made a dramatic appalled face. "I'll smack you again." she warned, a giggle escaping as she did.

"Please do." He smirked and unbuttoned his shirt, throwing it to the floor with dramatic gusto. "Come on, let's go to your bed." He stood up and took her hand in his, leading her to her room. He closed the door behind them and instantly kicked his shoes off into the corner of her room. He removed his suit pants and folded them nicely before resting them on her dresser. "Are you always this OCD about your clothing?" Molly couldn't help but roll her eyes. He ignored her and moved to where she was standing, picking her up in his arms and tossing her over his shoulder easily. She hated how she laughed, she knew it wasn't sexy, but he didn't seem to care. He playfully tossed her onto her bed and went to work ripping her pants off. He made a big show of folding her pants and setting them next to his own and frowned when he saw she had climbed underneath her thin bed sheet.

He shook his head at her and pulled the sheet away, his eyes raking over her body and taking her in as he climbed on top of her gracefully. He looked at her in a way she had never been looked at before, he looked at her like she was something to be devoured. Everyone else always looked at her like she was a delicate flower or something, but the way Jim looked at her made her feel like her whole body was on fire. He kissed her, using his hands to wrap her legs around him as he did. His hands made their way to her waist, holding her firmly as he thrust into her, delighting in the moan that escaped her lips as he did.

They moved together easily, her nails scraping down his back and drawing a thin line of blood as he bit her neck again. As they came together Jim collapsed on top of her, both of them breathing hard. "Oh my god." Molly muttered breathlessly. He traced his lips along her jaw and then kissed her softly before he rolled off of her. He reached for a tissue from her nightstand and discarded the used condom into a small pink garbage can she had next to her bed. Once that was taken care of he pulled her into his arms again, craving her touch. She fit into his arms perfectly and he kissed the back of her shoulders, working his way to her neck again. As he did he could feel her body relaxing into her arms, and her breathing grew steadier.

"Tired?"

"Very. It was a long day at work."

"Let's get some sleep then." He rolled off of her bed and found his boxers on the floor, slipping them back on before he made his way to the light switch. "Can you grab my underwear too and maybe a t-shirt from my top drawer?" she asked him from the bed, the sheet pulled up again to cover her. He switched off the lights and handed her clothes to her. He climbed back in bed next to her and could sense that something was bothering her again.

"Jim, what are we going to do? It's not like this -  _us_  - can work. What if Sherlock or John found out?"

"The last thing I want to discuss right now is Sherlock Holmes and John Watson." He made a face, hoping to make her laugh, "Everything's fine. I'll take you to a nice lunch tomorrow and we can talk about whatever you want then." He genuinely didn't sound worried at all, so Molly decided to trust him and listen. "Okay" she nodded slowly and laid back down next to him. "We're an odd pair aren't we?" he mused with a smile, "The angel and the devil." He kissed her softly and she smiled as he did. "Goodnight my dear."


	2. Chapter 2

Molly knew she shouldn't be surprised when she rolled over and found herself alone in her bed. She probably should have even expected it. Either way it didn't stop her from wanting to find Jim and strangle him. Even a psychopath had to know it was rude to run out on a girl in the middle of the night. Especially a  _genius_  psychopath, she added in her head angrily. She glanced over at her dresser, hoping to see his pants still folded there in his perfect OCD way, but instead saw they were missing also. A sure sign Jim had in fact most likely already left.

Groaning she climbed out of bed and stretched to help wake herself up. Her thighs ached in protest as she did, and if it wasn't for the sore spots on her body she probably would have thought she dreamed last night. It definitely wouldn't be the first time he had intruded on her dreams. The ache brought her back to last night and she couldn't help the stupid grin that plastered across her face.

There was none of the shy awkwardness she had grown accustomed to during sex with Tom. Jim knew exactly what he was doing and he did it extremely well. She had never had sex as amazing as last night in her entire life. Even when she had slept with Jim when he pretended to be her co-worker he had been sweet and gentle. Last night was completely different.

"At least Tom didn't disappear the next day" her familiar voice of reason chimed in her head, quick to dampen her mood again. Pushing the thought away, she decided she was in desperate need of some caffeine. As she passed her hamper she noticed all of the clothes she had been wearing yesterday were tossed into it. Leave it to Jim Moriarty, he might abandon you like a cheap one night stand but you better believe he'll clean your flat first. The man was literally a walking contradiction. "Good morning." Jim's voice sounded behind her and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She had been stirring sugar into her tea and the spoon dropped with a clink onto the counter. "What?" he gave her a confused look as he took in the steely glare she was shooting at him.

"Where have you been?" She brought her tea to her lips, blowing on it lightly. She knew he wasn't the type of guy to sneak out and grab her a breakfast sandwich or something to surprise her. She was honestly surprised he was even back again so early.

"Home?" he stared at her as if she had somehow reverted into a child. "It's not like I left and killed someone, I had to take a shower and get new clothes."

Molly's jaw actually dropped and she closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. 'It's not like I left and killed someone.' The words repeated in her head, sounding more and more ridiculous as they did until she dissolved into a fit of laughter. Clearly if she did continue to see Jim there would be no such thing as normal morning conversations. "Why are you laughing?" his voice was laced with obvious annoyance, "I don't appreciate people laughing at me Molly."

"Sorry." She tried to regain control of herself and bit her lip to keep from laughing any more. "Why did you have to go home and change clothes?" She attempted to get back to real conversation. He walked into the kitchen and leaned his hip against the counter next to her. "I said I'd take you to lunch. Did you forget?"

"You had a very nice suit here already, and you could have showered here. It's not like I would have minded."

She knew immediately that was the wrong answer by the look of disgust that passed over his face. "I wasn't going to wear the same suit two days in a row." He said it with genuine distaste, as if the thought horrified him.

"Seriously?" She knew better than to actually think he was kidding, but this was almost too much. "Do you really think you'd see anyone while we're out that would notice? Aren't you supposed to be hiding or something anyways? Maybe keeping a low profile?"

" _I_  would notice. I don't wear the same suit two days in a row, end of story. Besides, that's why I'm wearing this." He motioned to his white v-neck, dark jeans and a dark navy cardigan. He also didn't have his hair slicked back like he had last night. She assumed that was what he used as his disguise so to speak, and to be honest he did look like a different person. A more normal person.

Molly put her hands up in defeat and sighed. She was never going to win in a debate with him about fashion, she was better off quitting while she was behind. "It was kind of rude just disappearing and not letting me know you were leaving don't you think?" She asked it timidly, uncertain of what his reaction would be.

"No." He stated it so matter of fact that she locked her wide eyes on his and just stared. He rolled his eyes and grabbed her cup of tea from the counter, taking a long sip and grimacing almost immediately. "Ugh" he complained, "I hate sugar in my tea."

"Good, because that's  _my_  tea." She snatched it back from him, eliciting a satisfied smirk. It was truly unfair that no matter what face he made he always looked attractive. "You're like one of those poisonous frogs."

"How nice that you think of me as being poisonous." He deadpanned, but she had a feeling he liked the comparison. "Because you're beautiful, but deadly and dangerous." She explained, laughing as he made an appreciative face. "So when should we do lunch miss Hooper?"

"I have work at two, so I'll need to be at the hospital by then."

"Lucky for you, I tend to make my own schedule. As far as I know I don't need to help anyone murder someone before two, so we can go whenever you'd like." Molly set her cup of tea back down on the counter and gave him an cross look. "Jim, here's a new rule. No more talking about murder until I've at least finished one cup of tea in the morning."

He smiled at her thoughtfully and nodded. "If you insist."

"I'll go shower and get ready to go." Molly finished her last sip of tea and Jim smiled mischievously. "If you had to choose would you rather kill someone through incineration or freezing them to death? Hypothetically of course." He tacked on not too convincingly.

"You're hilarious." Molly scowled and chose to ignore his question. When Molly was done getting ready for lunch, she found Jim in her living room with his back to her. His posture was relaxed and he had one hand holding his cell to his ear, the other in his pocket. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" his posture was immediately rigid and even Molly jumped at his sudden rage. "Good, because it would be  _awful_  if you overdosed on your insulin." Calm again, his words were coated with malice.

He hung up and turned around, surprised to see Molly in the doorway. "Business associates can be such a hassle." He shrugged.

Molly forced a smile and nodded, "Sounds dreadful."

"Are you ready for lunch?"

"Yeah, where are we going to go? Isn't it hard for you to go about in public. I mean, won't people recognize you after seeing your face all over the television?" She couldn't help but wonder if she had made a mistake last night by admitting she still had feelings for him despite everything. She really did though, feelings that had lingered even after years of not talking to him. But could she really be with someone who did the things he did?

"Don't worry about things like that." He brushed away her concern, "People don't remember things very well. The best place to hide is in plain sight after all." He held out his hand and she took it, her usual butterflies coming back at the gentle way he laced his fingers with hers.

Jim hailed a cab and rattled off an address for wherever he was taking her, she wasn't familiar with the address and he hadn't told her the name. Halfway through the drive Jim surprised her and turned her face to his, kissing her softly at first but deepening it as his tongue parted her lips. Though normally she wasn't one for public displays of affection she had no desire to stop the kiss. All it took was a brush of his lips to send her heart beating into overdrive.

The cab pulled to a stop and Jim nipped at her bottom lip before pulling away and passing a generous amount of money to the cab driver. Molly looked up at the restaurant and shook her head. "Jim, this isn't necessary." She had heard some of the doctors at work talk about Basile and she knew they were expensive.

Jim ignored her and pulled her in behind him motioning for the maitre d to take them to a table for two. Molly admired the gorgeous restaurant as he led them and made sure to smile and thank him when he finally sat them in a private area. She picked up the menu and Jim gently set it back on the table, holding it there with one finger. "Not one word about the prices, and if you purposely order the least expensive item I'll make sure they bring you the most expensive." She frowned but nodded, "I wouldn't have done that." She lied, remembering his words from before  _'don't lie to a liar.'_

He looked amused but didn't call her on it, which she appreciated. "Hello, welcome to Basile." A waitress made her way up to the table and smiled at them, "My name is Mona and I'll be your server today." Molly noticed her eyes drift over to Jim more than once and saw the subtle way her body language shifted towards him as she spoke. It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to read that she was attracted to him. "Can I get you anything to drink?" she spoke first to Jim and then snapped a smile back on her face, "Can I get either of you a drink?" She corrected apologetically.

"Just a water with lemon for me." Molly answered politely. "A Vieux Carre" Jim ordered and she nodded eagerly. "I'll have them out immediately." She hurried away to get the drinks and Jim turned his attention back to Molly. "You could get a drink."

"I have to work soon, I don't think they'd appreciate me drinking beforehand."

"It's not like you can do much harm, your patients are already dead."

Molly opened her mouth to say something in response but came up with nothing and instead just stared at him. "Yes, well some of us work jobs where people rely on us to do the right thing." She finally snapped, and Jim raised his eyebrows at her and smiled. "Now we're getting somewhere."

"What do you mean?"

"Last night you gave in rather easily all things considered. It was only a matter of time until reality set in for you and you asked yourself 'can I really be with someone all of my friends would disapprove of?'"

"It's not about whether my friends would approve." She felt her defenses coming back up. That was part of it, but it wasn't the part that bothered her. "You  _hurt_  people. But it's not just that, you enjoy hurting people." She lowered her voice and looked around to make sure nobody was around them as she spoke. Jim held up one finger to her as the waitress returned with their drinks.

"Are you ready to order?" Jim asked her and when she nodded he gestured for her to go ahead.

"Just the Chateaubriand for me." Molly handed the menu over to the waitress who nodded and tucked it under her arm. "We'll also have the roast scallops with white port and garlic appetizer. I'll have the Surf and Turf, and we'll share a side of the lobster mac and cheese." He finished ordering and the waitress gave him a lingering smile before hurrying off again.

"Well someone fancies me." He laughed and then his face turned serious again as he focused. "Yes, I do enjoy my line of work. People hurt other people every day, why shouldn't I use that to my advantage. The fact of the matter is that I'm brilliant, and I just found a way to profit off of everyone else's need to hurt people."

He described it almost clinically, as if he was an innocent participant and not the one who thought of the different ways to kill someone and not get caught, or how to do any of the other criminal things she knew he organized that she could never even imagine. The truth was she had no idea just how vast his network was, she only knew the tiny bits Sherlock had mentioned when he needed her help. She doubted anyone besides Jim knew how vast it was, and was sure even imagining what he did would never compare to what he actually did and could do.

"Carl Powers?" Molly muttered the question and Jim smiled a chilling grin and nodded.

"I see Sherlock mentioned that one to you?" When she nodded he shrugged. "Carl Powers laughed at me, I stopped his laughing. I won." Molly took a deep breath and remembered his comment about her laughing at him earlier, and it clicked. "He bullied you then?"

"He bullied the wrong person."

"Clearly." She hated that she felt bad when she saw the flash of hurt pass in his eyes, once again giving her a glimpse into the fact that Jim Moriarty wasn't as unfeeling as he pretended to be. She hated even more that she understood it.

"The damaged love the damaged." Jim replied, reading her like a book. Molly let him take her hand in his. She was sure he was quoting something, and she had to admit it was a perfect summation of the two of them. "Molly you know what I do. You know what I am, Sherlock has told you plenty. You need to decide if that's something you could deal with."

"It's not like that's an easy thing to decide." She pulled her hand away from his and took a drink of her water.

"Sure it is."

"What?" She honestly had no idea how he could think that even for a second.

"You know whether you can or can't. You just won't admit it to yourself."

A suit clad waiter dropped off their appetizer and made sure everything looked okay. There were three flat seashells on the plate, each one with a large scallop in the middle of it and a delicious looking sauce poured over the scallop. Jim plucked a seashell off the serving plate and placed it on a small dish before passing it to Molly. "Thank you." Her voice was quiet and he nodded in response.

He finished his scallop and was still uncharacteristically silent. Finally he grimaced as if what he was going to say physically hurt him. "Just know that I am sincere in my feelings for you."

"That's why you just made that face?" Molly shook her head slowly and sighed, "Does it physically pain you to admit that you care about me?"

"It might as well. Caring about people is not a feeling I'm used to." And there it was, Molly knew that before he said it but it was the way he said it that shined a new light on what he meant. Caring about people wasn't something he was used to, but being cared about by someone was just as foreign a feeling to him. Molly knew the feeling, though she was sure she didn't know it quite as intimately as Jim. When her parents would get in a mood she at least always had her Aunt Jessa to turn to.

Her aunt had been a pathologist also, and she was the one who would take Molly to work with her once she finally talked her boss into it. Most kids probably would have preferred to be riding bikes and practicing kissing boys but Molly much preferred the company of her aunt and the various corpses in the morgue. After being belittled at home and bullied at school she preferred the silence her aunt's work allowed her. That's how she found out what she wanted to do with her life. She found a place where she could help people like she had always wanted and not have to worry about the popularity contest that came with every other aspect of life. Dead people were hardly in any position to be picky about who did their post mortems.

Molly's train of thought was interrupted by their entrees and she appreciated the distraction for a moment. "Make sure you have some lobster mac and cheese, it's incredible." Jim pushed the dish of it towards her gently. She tried a forkful and couldn't believe how good it was. She would have been happy with just that. "Wow." She muttered and he looked pleased. "I told you." She took in his easy smile and relaxed eyes and felt stomach twist nervously in response.

It wasn't right what Jim did, and she couldn't excuse it under any circumstance. And maybe Jim Moriarty was a monster, but she didn't think so. When she looked into his eyes, she didn't see a monster. "I can deal with it." The words escaped her lips without a second thought and Jim snapped his attention back to her. He had been tracing his finger along the rim of his glass with a bored expression, but his gaze was fixed on her now.

"Why?"

"Because I don't believe you're a monster." She answered him honestly, "I think what you do is horrible, and I don't want to have to hear about it. But I don't think you're a monster at heart."

"Don't be naive. I am a monster, you only know a tiny portion of what I do, but you know that."

"Yeah, and I obviously don't know you that well. But I want to, and I've seen portions of the real you besides the monster you use as a defense mechanism. The damaged love the damaged." She repeated the quote he had used. "I can't lie and say I fully understand what could have made you who you are now. But you said it last night, you can be someone else with me. The real you."

"You want to take that chance on me?"

Molly nodded shyly and Jim broke into a large grin and laughed. "I really never can fully peg you down. What would Sherlock Holmes say if he knew?" She knew he was teasing but she frowned anyways.

"Sherlock, John, Greg, they're all important to me. They're all my friends Jim. Don't think I'm ever going to betray them for you. If that's your endgame you can drop the act now. I'll always care about them."

"That's not my endgame. I'm also not going to lie to you and tell you that I won't pester Sherlock again. He's the only worthwhile foe I have."

"I won't forgive you if you kill one of my friends."

"I know." 'And so the battle lines are drawn' Molly thought with a sigh. Not every relationship had to start with battle lines, but she didn't care. Jim motioned for the waitress to return. "Wrap this up please, and this should cover the check." He slipped her what looked like a few hundred dollar bills and Molly tried not to think about how much the bill could have been. She knew her steak alone was over sixty dollars. The waitress took the money and hesitated, "Sorry to bother you but you look really familiar? Have you been in something?" Molly felt herself freeze up nervously, but Jim didn't even flinch. "I was on a children's show actually. It's on DVD, you must have seen it." "That must be it, I'm sure it's great." She smiled warmly, trying her hardest to flirt with him, before taking away the plates to wrap them up.

"Are you two brother and sister?" The waitress asked once she returned with their takeout meals. Jim instantly smirked, and Molly couldn't help being surprised by her boldness. Or maybe it wasn't so much boldness as hopeful desperation. "I sure hope not, otherwise the things I did to her last night are probably illegal." He answered with a devilish grin. Molly knew her face was scarlet as the waitress's jaw dropped and she eyed Molly in surprise. Jim took her hand and lead her after him, flagging a cab down once they reached the street.

"I won't be over tonight or for up to a week most likely. I've got some out of town business to attend to." Jim held open the door for her, "But I'll call you."

"Okay." She nodded, unsure of what to say besides that. "I'll stop by though while you're at work and put these leftovers in your fridge for you. Goodbye my dear, have a good night at work." Such ordinary words almost sounded absurd coming from his lips and Molly had to hold down laughter as he leaned in and kissed her. "Thanks, uhm, bye." She climbed into the cab and Jim closed the door behind her. He was instantly on his cell phone as the cab pulled away, and she couldn't help but be glad she was heading to her familiar job. Jim could say whatever he wanted about it, but Molly was okay with having a bit of dull routine in her life.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a week since Molly had last seen Jim, which meant she would hopefully be getting to see him tonight. He had refused to tell her whether or not he'd be back in town by tonight. But she had a feeling it was because he was a drama queen and just telling her to expect him wouldn't be exciting enough. She smiled at the thought of seeing him and had to remember not to look too happy while she was examining a corpse. Most people would probably find someone who was too happy unsettling in her line of work.

Molly looked down at the body in front of her and took off her gloves, discarding them in the nearby trash can. She marked down the cause of death, a gunshot to the head, and marked it as a definite suicide. He was her last examination for the night, so she decided it was time for a coffee break until it was time to head home. As she made a pot of coffee Molly's thoughts drifted to when her and Jim used to take their coffee breaks together and she couldn't help smiling again. She honestly hadn't felt this happy in a long time. She was surprised Jim had even kept his word and called her just about every night he'd been gone. And when he hadn't been able to call her, he texted her to say goodnight at the very least.

All of the calls were nice except the first one. After that call she found out she needed to set some serious phone call guidelines with him. She sighed at the thought and sipped her coffee.

* * *

" _Hello?" Molly answered, hopeful that the restricted call was from Jim._

" _Hello love." Jim purred into the phone, sending butterflies dancing in Molly's stomach. "What are you up to?"_

" _I just walked into my flat actually. I was about to feed Toby his dinner. What are you doing?" Molly balanced her cell phone between her ear and shoulder and scooped food into Toby's bowl, where he was waiting expectantly._

" _Oh, just stuck at work. You know how it is, my hours can run pretty late when they have to." Molly was about to say something when she thought she heard the sounds of muffled yelling on his end of the phone._

" _What's that?"_

" _What?" Jim answered after a moment of silence from his end._

" _What was_   _that sound? It sounded like someone was yelling."_

" _Oh, it's usually pretty loud here. Someone needed to ask me something. Don't worry about it, it's nothing. How was work?"_

" _It was slow tonight, which I suppose should be considered a good thing considering my line of work."_

" _Well I may just have to come back to London early. I can make it so you have a bit more work." He laughed and Molly rolled her eyes, glad he couldn't see her._

" _Not funny Jim."_

" _Oh, have a sense of humor Mol." He countered, his laughter followed by another strange noise. This time Molly was positive she heard a gurgling noise and then it sounded like someone was choking._

" _James Moriarty you had better not be talking on the phone to me while you're killing someone!"_

" _I'm not killing someone" Jim whined unconvincingly, "It's just a bit of torture. Every day stuff, quite routine really." Molly could picture the smirk on his face as he told her that, she didn't even need to see him to know that's almost certainly what he looked like._

" _Oh my god. Why would you even call me while you were doing something like that?"_

" _Because I knew you'd probably be going to sleep soon and I wanted to talk to you." His voice sounded genuinely pouty now. As if she should just accept that he was torturing some random person while he was on the phone with her because at least he wanted to talk to her._

' _For the head of a criminal network he sure manages to pull off the whiny child thing very well.' Molly thought to herself angrily. "Jim from now on don't call me while you're doing any of your work. I told you I don't want any part of it. And I definitely don't want the soundtrack to your phone call being someone choking on their own blood."_

" _You can tell exactly what was happening to him just from some background noises?" He sounded genuinely impressed. "God, you're wonderful."_

" _That's literally only a good thing to you. I'm hanging up now. Call me tomorrow when you aren't being a jerk."_

* * *

After that call he had always made sure he was somewhere silent when he called her, and they had spent hours at a time on the phone some nights. Molly looked up as her co-worker Cordelia came in and waved at her. "Hey Molly" Cordelia made herself a cup of coffee and joined Molly at her table. "Hey Delia" Molly smiled warmly, "How's your night going?"

"Oh, you know." She shrugged and took a large sip of coffee, "I just finished a surgery a bit ago, and I have another in an hour. How are things in the morgue?"

"Pretty slow, I had to do a report on the cause of death for a suicide victim, but I don't have much else to do for the rest of my shift. Thankfully I'll be done soon."

"I think I saw that detective friend of yours heading to the lab, he's looking for you most likely."

"Oh, maybe." Molly replied, "I doubt it though, he probably just wants to use the lab equipment."

Cordelia shrugged and took another sip of her coffee. "You seem extra happy lately, any specific reason?" Molly could tell she obviously had a guess about what the reason was, because Delia had a knowing smile plastered across her face. "Maybe a certain detective friend of yours has been paying you some visits at home?"

Molly felt her face heat up and she vehemently shook her head no, "Sherlock? No, no way. He isn't interested in me at all, trust me. That ship has long since sailed, we're just friends."

"His loss. So there's a different guy then?"

"What makes you think it's a guy?"

"Molly, sweetheart, it's clearly a guy. You have that starry eyed look and the stupid smile every girl gets when they think of a guy they like. I haven't seen you smile this much since you and Tom broke up."

Molly laughed and gave in, "Okay, yes, it's a guy."

"Aww, good." Cordelia looked genuinely happy for her, "You're such a sweet girl, you deserve a nice guy."

'Right, a nice guy' Molly kept the sarcastic thought to herself. Maybe, he's not nice to other people, but he  _was_  nice to her after all. "Yeah, he treats me really well. We just started seeing each other though, so we'll have to see how things go."

"What does he do?"

'Oh you know. Plans assassinations, bombings and any other criminal act you could imagine. The usual.' She answered silently. "He's a businessman." She settled for out loud.

"Very nice, you go girl." Delia finished her coffee and stood up. "It was good catching up with you, if you want to grab lunch sometime let me know." Molly nodded and agreed to plan something soon. She decided to head upstairs and see what Sherlock, and no doubt John, were up to. She tossed the last few sips of her coffee in the trash and made a cup for each of them.

"Hey guys." She greeted, poking her head in first and then walking in. "I heard you were working up here so I brought you some coffee."

"Thanks Molly" John took his and smiled at her, Sherlock just continued focusing on the microscope he was using.

"What are you guys working on?" Molly clasped her hands nervously in front of her. She certainly felt more like a part of their group now than she had used to. But she couldn't help still feeling like she was always on the back burner, always less important. Sherlock glanced over at her, "I'm testing this blood. A client of ours is convinced their husband was killed in their barn because he never came home the other night and she found blood splattered all over one of the stalls."

"And?"

"Animal blood, it's all but obvious he walked out on her. She shouldn't be expecting him back anytime soon. He's probably long gone by this point."

"Why is it obvious?" Molly asked him, hoping he'd explain it without making her feel like an idiot.

"Easy. Her body language screams that they haven't had sex in over a year, in every picture his body is angled so it's facing away from her. A sure sign that he doesn't want to be with her. She also seemed like she was covering something up, possibly that he was having an affair. So what she really wants to know is was he murdered by his mistress? But in reality she's hoping he was because she was thinking about doing it herself. He probably made the right choice in leaving."

"Oh." Molly nodded, "I see."

"Speaking of relationships I take it that you're seeing someone?" he stared at her and Molly fidgeted uncomfortably. John stiffened a bit, no doubt waiting for the negative comment that usually followed statements like that.

"Why do you say that?" Molly braced herself for it as well. She  _had_  put on a pound or so, not that it had anything to do with Jim. She'd just had a bit of a sweet tooth the past few nights. Not that anything like that ever got past Sherlock.

"You've changed your perfume, it's less sweet and more sultry. Indicating you are planning on seeing someone tonight. Someone you want to make think of sex when he smells it on you. Besides that you've put on three pounds again, most likely because you feel comfortable around whoever it may be and haven't felt the need to watch what you're eating. And finally you're far less tense than normal, which would suggest that someone has been helping you unwind. One way or another." Sherlock smiled in obvious self satisfaction and Molly just stared in awe.

"I don't think I'll ever fully get used to how amazing it is to watch you do that. Even when it is slightly insulting."

"Don't worry John still hasn't managed to get used to it yet either." Sherlock resumed looking at his slide before turning his attention back to Molly a few minutes later. "It's not serious I hope."

"Why would you hope that?"

"You have terrible taste in men."

"Sherlock." John interrupted him with a sharp glance.

"Hey Molly" Cordelia poked her head into the lab and apologized for interrupting. "I was on my way to surgery and I guess there's a car waiting outside for you. It looks like a certain someone wanted to get you from work in style." She gave molly an impressed look and a thumbs up before shutting the door again as she left.

"Oh, how impressive. He hired a car to pick you up from work." Sherlock commented his voice oozing with sarcasm. "He's very original."

"It's a nice gesture Sherlock, that's what people do." John sighed, "I think it's nice Molly."

"Thanks John." Molly gave him a grateful smile.

"It's mundane, it's what someone with no originality does for someone who isn't very important to them." Sherlock sounded bored, but Molly was almost positive this was Sherlock's form of jealousy. He was acting a bit like a child himself now, and Molly couldn't help but wonder if all geniuses were secretly like five year olds deep down. When he found out she was dating Tom he didn't seem to care. But maybe the fact that she might be seeing someone who made a real effort bothered him. She had never imagined that Sherlock would get jealous of anyone, especially considering she used to throw herself at him time after time only to be rejected. She couldn't even imagine what his reaction would be if he actually knew who she was seeing.

"Let's just hope he's not a sociopath. Or just plain stupid like in Tom's case." Sherlock talked into the microscope. Molly didn't know what to say in response to that and looked at John, hoping he could chime in and help her. "Alright, I think it's time for Molly to go, she clearly has a date." John gave Molly an apologetic look and Sherlock continued to look at whatever he had on the microscope now. "Thanks John. I'd better leave." She forced a small smile and looked over at Sherlock. "Bye Sherlock, it was good seeing you."

"Yes, it was nice." He didn't sound very convincing, but she knew it wasn't anything personal. Her and Sherlock had actually become much better friends ever since she helped him survive his fall from the hospital roof. She was pretty sure that was his only reason he would even be jealous. He was probably just feeling protective over her, like he would for a sister. Sherlock was a great man, and despite everything he did to try to prove otherwise, she knew he cared deeply for the people he considered to be his friends. He definitely reverted back to his old, more callous, persona at times though. There was no denying that.

Molly wrapped her scarf around her as she walked out into the cold London air and she shook her head at the black car waiting out front of the hospital. There was nothing mundane about it to her. She had never been picked up by a car this nice, and she certainly had never had a chauffeur waiting outside to open the door for her. "Thank you." She tried not to show she was embarrassed but she felt slightly guilty, like she was being lazy not opening the door herself. Which, admittedly, was ridiculous considering it was literally a part of his job. Regardless she made sure to thank him many times between trying to get him to tell her where she was going. But of course he refused, knowing better than to ruin a surprise Jim had for her.

Molly's eyes widened and she lowered her head into her hands as she looked out the window once the car stopped. In front of her was 45 Park Lane hotel, one of the nicest hotels in London. 'I am going to kill him' Molly grabbed her purse and clutched it tightly with nervous hands as the driver walked her into the hotel. She was embarrassingly under dressed to even be standing in the lobby. All around her were waif thin girls who looked like they could be models, and they were wearing clearly expensive dresses and outfits. And here she was, wearing baggy jeans and a sweater, and having just left her job at a morgue. "Hello, I'm Jenny and I'll be your host throughout your stay here, can I show you to your room Miss Hooper?"

"Uh- yes, please, thank you so much."

"Right this way, this is your private elevator, it can only be accessed with a key, so there's no need to worry about privacy."

"Private elevator?" Molly felt her heart race and couldn't help but feel slightly overwhelmed. She had never been anywhere this nice before, and she doubted that any old room had a private elevator.

"Yes, the penthouse suite can only be accessed by this elevator." Jenny smiled as the elevator took them straight up to the ninth floor. "Here you go, If you need anything at all just call down and I'll bring it right up."

"Thank you Jenny." Molly stammered and immediately turned her attention to the room she was in once the elevator closed again behind her. She felt like she had stumbled into a movie, because everything was far too beautiful and perfect to be real.

"Like it?" She turned to her left to see Jim standing in the doorway to the balcony. He was wearing a dark blue suit, cut perfectly to his body. He looked like he belonged with the room because he looked too perfect to be standing in front of her also. He was grinning like an over eager child waiting for her reaction and she just slowly shook her head back and forth, utterly speechless.

"Jim…" she started and then shut her mouth tight again. She felt tears spring to her eyes as she looked around the room and she dabbed at each eye with the sleeve of her sweater.

"Are you crying?" his expression was so confused that it was comical, and it was apparent he had no idea what to do. "That's not exactly the reaction I expected."

"You didn't need to do this, this is insane."

"Well, you're dating someone insane, what do you expect?"

"You don't need to take me places like this, my flat would have been fine." She didn't want to sound ungrateful, but she also felt completely overwhelmed and out of place.

"Molly, come here." He held his hand out to her, his expression soft. When he looked like that she found it all too easy to forget anything bad he could have done or could do. He looked as harmless as a kitten. She walked over to him, setting her purse on the ground and he led her outside, lacing her fingers gently with his. Once he got her to the railing of the balcony he enveloped her in his arms and held her, both of them staring out at the beautiful London skyline. "I'm well aware I didn't  _need_  to do this for you, but I  _wanted_ to. And I've told you before, I'm not one to deny the things I want."

"Yeah, but this room probably costs what I make in a few months for one night."

"And it costs what I sometimes make in a minute. Welcome to my life" he turned her to face him, leaning her back against the balcony railing and shooting her an adorable lopsided grin.

"It's so beautiful. I've never seen any place as fancy as this."

"It's the penthouse suite, of course it's nice. I wanted to spoil my queen."

Molly felt a light blush spread to her cheeks and she cracked a smile. "Please don't tell me you stole the crown jewels again."

Jim genuinely laughed and pulled her to him for a lingering kiss. "I do look stunning in a crown."

"I'm sure you do." Molly agreed and laughed again, "I knew you were going to do something dramatic tonight."

"What are you implying? That  _I_  am dramatic." He placed a hand over his heart and looked appalled she would suggest that before laughing along with her.

" _You._ Oh no way, what was I thinking?"

"Are you hungry?"

"No, I kind of just want to spend time with you." Molly admitted shyly and was surprised by the way Jim's eyes lit up. She giggled as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing. He carried her to the bedroom and tossed her playfully on the bed and then joined her. He sat with his back to the headboard and she laid on her stomach so she could comfortably look at him. "I like when you're like this."

"Like what?" he asked her, reaching over and brushing her hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear.

"When you aren't serious, or angry. You're just relaxed and enjoying yourself like a normal, ordinary person."

"That only happens with you."

"I know." She didn't  _know_  but she had a pretty good idea. "I want to know more about you."

"No, you don't" he laughed but it seemed far more strained than before. "If you knew more about me you'd run."

"I already know bad things about you, but I'm still here."

Jim nodded and seemed unsure of what to say. "Hence why you have to be an angel. Sometimes I think you were brought into my life to torture me. Like a punishment for all of the bad things I've done."

"Why would you think that? That's not a good thing."

"No. It's not." He agreed. "I've been lonely my whole life, that's the truth. That's why when I heard about Sherlock it was one of the best days of my life. There was finally someone on my par of intelligence that I could keep myself amused with. And he helped get rid of some of that loneliness, and he definitely helped my boredom. But ultimately Sherlock was a disappointment. He was far more ordinary than I originally gave him credit for." Molly noticed that his tone got a lot more angry when he talked about Sherlock, that and he sounded disappointed.

"But imagine my surprise when I met you. I thought you'd just be a fun toy to mess around with. But you turned out to be so intelligent, and despite that shy persona you project I saw how strong you were long before you finally got the nerve to stand up for yourself. I saw you Molly, right away, long before you saw yourself. And you don't know true loneliness until you've found someone who actually relieves you of it. Not a distraction for loneliness like Sherlock was, but a true relief of it. And then you were gone."

"That was your fault."

"Of course it was." He replied quickly, "I don't like it."

"You don't like that I made it so you weren't lonely anymore?" Molly was lost, she didn't see how that was a bad thing.

"No. I was used to the loneliness, I always felt it, but I didn't fear it. And then I met you and suddenly loneliness was terrifying again."

Molly knew he'd be mad at her if she got emotional and cried, but she felt genuinely sad. This was what she had wanted, she'd wanted him to open up to her. But now that he was, she was realizing he had deeper scars than she had thought was possible. She could see the sadness in his eyes now that he had dropped part of his usual mask.

"You were lonely your whole life? What about your parents?"

Jim scoffed and shook his head at her, his eyes looked cold and menacing again when he stared into hers. "I killed my parents."

Molly instantly regretted recoiling the way she did. "They were the first people I ever killed. I pulled all of their teeth out and fed them to the pigs my dad kept on our farm once I had finished. Are you sorry you wanted to know the real me  _now_?" Molly knew he was purposely being cruel about it to try to push her away, and she wasn't going to let him. "How old were you?"

"Eight years old."

"What did they do to you?" she asked gently and his cold mask slipped from his face again as she caught him off guard. He looked lost and vulnerable when he met her eyes. "Why would you ask me like that? Why wouldn't you just ask why I did it?"

"Jim, no eight year old just kills his parents for no reason, not even you. What did they do to you?"

Molly got up and moved to where he was leaning with his back against the headboard and sat next to him, pulling his hand over to her lap and squeezing his hand in her own. "My dad was an abusive alcoholic. He was constantly beating my mother near to death and then he'd turn his rage over to me when he knew she couldn't take anymore abuse that night. I don't remember a time in my childhood where this wasn't happening. And my mom never once tried to leave, or ever stuck up for herself or me. She was as disgusting and pathetic as he was." His words were coated with hatred. "As I got older he started focusing solely on me, and my mom let it happen. Hell she was openly grateful that he had decided to go after me instead."

Molly couldn't even imagine dealing with that as a child. Her parent's had been terrible parents but they had never laid a hand on her. They ignored her most of the time, and they were always saying they were disappointed in her, but they had never abused her. She flinched thinking about it and wanted to hug him, but she knew better. "I was far more advanced than your average eight year old as you can imagine. So I asked her if we could leave, I told her I had broken ribs and needed to go to a hospital. Do you know what she said to me? She told me to go to my room and act like a man. She told me my father would be furious when he found out what I had tried to get her to do and she would make sure he punished me accordingly."

Molly felt a chill run through her and gasped, unable to catch herself. She brought her free hand over her mouth and wiped tears away from her eyes. 'What kind of parent says that to their eight year old son, when he's begging her to go to a hospital?' Molly was furious. "I poisoned both of them with rat poison that night before he could lay a hand on me. That was my final test for her. She failed so I killed them."

"Good." Molly had never thought she would be happy to hear about one of Jim's crimes but he had proven her wrong. Jim looked over at her in silent surprise and she pulled him into her arms, holding him tightly. "I'm so sorry Jim." She whispered as he hugged her back. "You didn't deserve that."

"You're the only person I've ever told that to." Jim looked down and smiled, a small forced smile, his eyes still deep with sadness. For the first time Molly truly understood some of his rage she had seen boiling below the surface so many times. "I'm not going to run away, I promise." She meant it.

"I don't deserve you" he replied, "That's why I think you're my curse. It's only a matter of time until you realize that." He moved them so they were laying on their sides in the giant bed and he wrapped his arms tightly around her. Molly snuggled closer into him and brought his hands to her mouth, kissing them gently. "I'm not your curse, and I'm not going anywhere." Molly felt his arms start to relax around her and knew he was falling asleep.

"Thank you Mol." She heard him mumble, his voice heavy with sleep. Molly felt her heart tug in her chest at his words. "I'm not going anywhere." She whispered back. She knew she was repeating herself, but she had a feeling that's what he really needed to hear. Molly closed her eyes and let herself fall asleep in his arms. Her last thoughts before she finally succumbed to sleep were about how she could love Jim Moriarty. Despite all of his flaws and the way he hid how broken he was deep below the surface, she could love him, and it scared her.


	4. Chapter 4

Molly looked up from the report she was working on to see Sherlock standing in the doorway. "May I come in?" Molly nodded and looked at him carefully. Since when did Sherlock Holmes ask if he could come into the lab, something was up. "You know you're always welcome here." He walked over to the table she was at and sat on the stool across from her. "Need to do some research?" she asked him, closing up her report for a moment so she could focus on talking to him.

"No, not today. I needed to ask if there's any way you could get me some body parts for some experiments?"

"Anything specific?" Molly knew the answer was undoubtedly yes. Last time he had requested for her to get him as many eyeballs as she could. She still had no idea why he wanted them, he had just told her it was important for his research.

"Hands." Sherlock answered simply. "I'm trying to see how long you can get fingerprints off a hand once the body has been dead. Specifically in different situations such as underwater, in heat, or in cold, you get it."

"Sure, no problem." Molly agreed. She knew it was illegal and definitely against the rules of her job, but she didn't mind helping Sherlock out when he needed it. She used to do it because she had a crush on him and wanted him to notice her. But now that she was over him she still didn't mind doing it. Because ultimately his research could, and did, help people. Plus, she only took them from bodies she'd be cremating anyways. So it was really no harm done. In her mind she was doing the right thing. Because if he learned things to help solve murders and bring justice to victim's families it was worth it. "I'm sure Mrs. Hudson will be thrilled as always." Molly joked.

"That's the only positive to John not sharing my flat anymore. I don't have to hear him complain about body parts in the fridge anymore. Mrs. Hudson is surprisingly okay with it." Molly felt bad when she saw the familiar sadness pass through his eyes as he talked about John. "How are you doing with John living with Mary now?"

"Fine." Sherlock snapped quickly, "He's married. Of course he would live with Mary. Even with her secrets I still like Mary. At least he chose someone with a personality."

"I know you like Mary" Molly attempted to explain herself, "I just imagined it'd be a change for you is all."

"I was gone for two years Molly, I  _can_  live without John Watson." Molly had a feeling that wasn't really true but nodded and forced a smile anyways. She knew he'd never confide in her if he was sad anyways. Deep down though she had a feeling Sherlock was far more upset than he'd let on to anyone. She saw it in the way he looked at John when John wasn't paying attention. In fact, it's what finally pushed her to move on from Sherlock when she met Tom. She knew Sherlock would never look at her the way he looked at John, and she wanted someone who  _would_  look at her that way.

"I also wanted to apologize to you, because I was rude to you last week." Molly had been spacing out for a moment, wondering if Jim looked at her like that. But as soon as Sherlock said that he had her full attention again. "Sorry, what?" Molly was sure she had misheard due to her daydreaming, after all Sherlock didn't apologize. To anyone… ever.

"I was rude to you last week about your being in a relationship. I'm sure he's perfectly acceptable." So it wasn't exactly a word for word 'I'm sorry,' but Molly knew that was as good as almost anyone ever got. "Did John make you apologize to me?" she smiled knowingly.

"He didn't  _make_  me." Sherlock answered her without sounding too believable, "He just brought it to my attention that it wasn't polite to say things like that to a friend."

"Well thank you Sherlock, I genuinely appreciate the apology. That means a lot."

"Yes. Well, are you still seeing the same person?"

"Yep."

"That's… good… I suppose." He answered slowly, as if unsure of what to actually say. "I hope he's smarter than Tom." Molly sighed and stared at Sherlock, "Did everyone really hate Tom that much?" First Jim had insulted him, and now Sherlock too. "Who else told you they hated him?" Sherlock stared at her inquisitively.

"Ah-" Molly faltered and wished she could take back her words. "Greg." She finally answered, knowing Sherlock most likely didn't have personal conversations with Greg Lestrade. Most of the time Sherlock didn't even remember his first name. "Yes- well, anyone who thinks a meat dagger is a realistic guess at a murder weapon is an idiot." Molly nodded and forced a smile. She had to agree with him on that statement. Molly even pinpointed John's wedding as the beginning of the end for her and Tom. "Jim Moriarty may have been insane but at least he was intelligent. I daresay even  _he_  was a step up from Tom for you. You do have horrid taste in men Molly Hooper."

Molly let a deep breath out through her nose and slowly nodded. "Okay, I'm going to go round up some hands for you." She changed the subject, not wanting to risk him deducing anything about her when Jim Moriarty's name was brought up. She knew even the slightest subconscious gesture could tip him off that something was weird.

"Why did you get defensive when I brought Moriarty up?" Sherlock asked and she sat back down.

"I didn't." She answered quickly, "If I sounded defensive it's probably because I don't enjoy being told how terrible my taste in men is. Why would I get defensive about Jim Moriarty?"

"Why indeed." Sherlock stared at her, his eyes probing her face and making her uncomfortable. Molly shifted nervously in her seat and tried to remain as stone-faced as possible. "I'm not completely ignorant to the way emotions can control the human mind Molly. I'm sure he was a very sweet boyfriend when he  _was_  your pretend gay boyfriend. But I would hope you were smart enough not to let that cloud your judgment about the true Moriarty."

"Sherlock he tried to kill you and all of my friends. I feel nothing but disgust for James Moriarty." Molly felt guilty lying to Sherlock. But she knew it was the way it had to be. Clearly it's not like he'd understand, and she didn't blame him. He'd probably say she had lost her mind, and then he'd tell everyone they knew so they could all work together to stop her from seeing Jim again. Lying is what she had to do to protect herself and Jim, that's just the way it was.

"Good." Sherlock finally nodded in satisfaction. "Humans deserve sentiment, but Jim Moriarty is not a human. He's a spider and he deserves the disgust you would feel towards a spider or an insect."

"Can I go get you some hands now?" Molly asked, desperate to be out of this conversation.

"Of course you can, you don't need to ask  _my_ permission." Sherlock looked at her as if she'd asked him what two plus two equaled. Molly sighed and quickly hurried out of the lab and to the morgue. She cared very deeply about Sherlock, but sometimes she wanted to shake him.  _'I don't know how John deals with him sometimes.'_ Molly thought to herself as she grabbed the tools she would need to cut hands off of a few of the bodies that were going to be cremated tonight.

Molly got to work and was able to get him three sets of hands, sneaking them back to the lab in the cooler he had brought with him. "Here you go Sherlock." She passed him the cooler, "There are six in there. That's the best I could do."

Sherlock nodded and set the cooler next to him on the floor. "Molly, I just realized, are you doing okay ever since Moriarty broadcast his message for all of England to see?"

"You're asking me about this  _now_?" Molly questioned, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "It's literally been over four months now since he did that."

"It just crossed my mind that you could be worried. Especially since you helped me survive. It's fairly obvious he must know I didn't die on that roof. For one thing it was in all of the papers when I came back. And I think it's safe to assume he would have an idea you helped me."

"Yeah, I'm sure he does have an idea." Molly shot back. She knew he had a very good idea considering that was one of the first things he'd said to her the night he broke into her apartment. "He had his people watching everyone else you would have had to help you."

"Are you scared or anything, because we'll look out for you." Molly smiled at his words, she knew her friends really would look out for her if she asked them too. But the fact of the matter is he was about a month too late in asking if she was worried. She  _had_  been worried for four months, from the second she saw the video clip playing on the screen in the morgue, but she wasn't anymore. Jim had already come to see her, but instead of killing her like she feared he'd admitted his feelings for her. Not that she was going to tell Sherlock that.

"I'm fine Sherlock, I'm not worried at all."

"That's good I suppose. I'm sure Jim doesn't consider you of any importance anyways. He probably would assume I just told you exactly what to do and you blindly listened."

Molly clenched her teeth and forced a closed lipped smile. "I'm sure you're right, I'm basically invisible anyways."

"It's better to be invisible to people like James Moriarty, don't forget that."

"Maybe I'm just tired of being invisible to everyone." She shot back. The funny part was that in reality Jim was the one person in her life right now that made her feel like she  _wasn_ _'t_  invisible. He made her feel like he saw her in Technicolor for lack of a better word. And here Sherlock was telling her she should be glad to be invisible to him.

"You're not invisible to any of us." Sherlock told her in a rare moment of genuine comfort.

Molly nodded and broke into a bigger smile, even as the guilt ate away at her. "Thanks Sherlock, I needed to hear that." Sherlock stared at her uncomfortably, obviously unsure of what to say now. "You should probably get those home." Molly motioned to the cooler, essentially telling him he could leave, and he looked thankful.

"Ah, yes, I had better. Thank you Molly." He stood up and grabbed the cooler, "I appreciate your help."

"Any time Sherlock, you know that." Molly sat down and went back to her report once he left. Once she finished her report she cremated the bodies she had severed the hands from and cleaned everything up. Her phone chirped in her pocket and she took it out to see she had a text from Jim.

' _Did you have a nice heartwarming talk with Sherlock? -JM'_

Molly stared at the screen in dumbfounded shock, though she knew she shouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

' **Please tell me you don** ' **t have people watching me.** **'**  She texted back angrily.

' _Of course I have someone keeping an eye on you. What if someone was to try and hurt you? - JM'_

' **Considering I'm texting the only person who's likely to send someone to hurt me I'm not too concerned.'**

' _What did Sherlock Holmes want from you? - JM'_

' **Are you jealous?'**

' _Of course I'm not jealous of Sherlock. Don't be dull Molly. - JM'_

' **I'm not telling you anything about it. I told you I wouldn't be talking with you about any of Sherlock's activities.'**

' _I might be a little bit jealous I suppose. - JM_ _'_

' **You don't say.'** Molly rolled her eyes at her phone and finished cleaning up everything so she could go home. She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder.  **'I'm leaving now, we can talk when I get home.'** She slid her phone into her back pocket and hailed a cab to take her back to her flat. As she got in she looked around her to see if she could see anyone watching her, but she didn't see anyone even around right now. The street was pretty dead at the moment.

Not that she thought Jim's people would be quite so obvious if they were around. 'I'm going to have to talk to him about that. That is not going to fly with me.' She thought to herself as the cab driver started towards her flat. She was definitely annoyed that he would be having her followed around, she didn't care what the reasons were. But she couldn't help admitting that she kind of liked Jim being jealous of Sherlock. Even if she knew it was totally unwarranted because  _she_  knew she didn't have feelings for Sherlock any more. The truth was that it made her feel a little bit more in control to know she had the power to make Jim jealous. She could imagine that was something that most people didn't get to say.


	5. Chapter 5

Molly opened the door to her flat to see Jim lying on her couch, typing away on his cell phone while her cat Toby was curled up on his stomach. "I hope you know I hate you a little bit. Toby likes you more than me." Molly set her purse on the coffee table and sat in the armchair across from the him.

"Don't be so jealous." Jim didn't bother looking away from his phone. "I can't help that I'm irresistible, it's only natural he would be drawn to me." Jim hit the button to lock his phone and slid it into his pocket, turning his attention to Molly.

"You're one to talk about jealousy" She quipped, crossing her arms over her chest. His eyes narrowed as he stared at her and he let out an obviously annoyed sigh. "I knew I shouldn't have mentioned anything about that to you. It was more of a joke than anything else."

"You know there's no reason at all to be jealous though, correct?"

"I don't know if  _that_ _'s_  the truth." He answered quickly, "You used to have big old puppy dog eyes for Sherlock. You even got engaged to a Sherlock look-a-like." Jim pet Toby, rubbing behind the cat's ear while it purred happily.

"Oh for Christ's sake. For the last time, Tom was not a Sherlock look-a-like, nor was he  _that_  stupid." Molly snapped, she'd had enough of people bringing Tom up any time they wanted to insult her. She had cared about Tom, and just because it hadn't worked out didn't mean Jim and Sherlock got to be rude about it all the time. She composed herself again and continued. "Regardless, I promise you I don't have any feelings for Sherlock anymore. He's strictly my friend now. You have no reason to feel jealous."

"Yes, well, that's the annoying part of  _feelings_  isn't it?" The word feelings rolled off his tongue with blatant distaste. Molly had noticed that his Irish accent was always more noticeable when he was annoyed or angry, which only tended to make her more attracted to him even when they were arguing. "They're totally irrational and utterly annoying." Jim moved so he was sitting up and facing her. She noticed that he made sure to lift Toby up gently, setting the cat on his lap again once he was comfortable. Molly stared at him, trying to read how he was feeling by his posture, his expression, anything. But as usual he gave nothing away unless he wanted to.

"That's called being human, sometimes you need to deal with feelings." He made a disgusted face as she said that and she rolled her eyes at him. "You'd think feelings were a disease by the way you act."

"Aren't they?" He asked her immediately. His expression was curious now as if she had posed a scientific question, rather than a basic fact. "They aren't helpful in any way. In fact they're usually detrimental and lead to people doing irrational, stupid things."

Molly clenched her jaw and had to remind herself that Jim hadn't grown up with anyone caring about him the way she had. He hadn't been raised to be emotional and to embrace feelings. And she was sure that any feelings he did have growing up, they'd probably only been negative. She knew who he was, and she knew better than to get annoyed that he  _was_  the way he was. "Feelings aren't a disease Jim. Just because people do irrational things because of their emotions, doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Not to mention having feelings and emotions  _can_  be helpful, whether you agree or not."

"If you say so." She knew he was saying that as an end to the conversation so that they wouldn't argue, so she dropped it. "We need to talk about the fact that you're having me followed." Molly leaned back in the chair, ready for the argument that was imminent.

"You can talk about it all you want, it won't change anything."

"Jim, I'm serious. I don't want you spying on me. That's so uncomfortable and creepy. Please."

"It's not negotiable Mol, it's for your safety."

"No, it  _is_  negotiable because I'm telling you to stop it. I'm just pretending to be polite about it." She kept her tone steady and serious. "You're going to stop having people follow me and watch me."

"Molly I hate to break it to you, but even you can't make me do something I don't want to do. What if something were to happen to you? It's not because I don't trust you or want to spy on you" He rolled his eyes as he said that, "It's because I don't want to risk anything happening to you."

"What's honestly going to happen to me? I lived my life just fine before you had people following me and nothing happened."

"Exactly, but now you're with me. Someone could try to hurt you based on that fact alone, it's part of the territory of being with someone like myself."

"Jim, nobody even knows you're with me."

"We've gone out in public plenty of times, it's just that nobody has noticed who I am. That's the great thing about ordinary stupid citizens. But if someone was specifically watching me and saw you with me it could mean you're potentially at risk."

"As if people would be dumb enough to go after you?" Molly scoffed, "You're like the king of a ridiculously large criminal empire. You have criminals come to  _you_  for help, I don't think they're going to be trying to kill some random morgue worker you may have been seen with."

Jim pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a heavy sigh, "Molly, you're smart. Smarter than anyone gives you credit for, so use your head to think about that for a minute."

Molly rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Enlighten me as to why that's so stupid."

"I'm the king of a criminal empire." He repeated slowly, almost insultingly. When she still stared at him with an annoyed expression he lost it and threw his head back in exasperation. "I'm the king of a criminal empire! Which means I still have lots of enemies!" He yelled loudly and stared at her with wide, rage filled eyes.

Molly had gotten used to occasional outbursts from him after dealing with his almost manic mood swings for a while now. But she still recoiled a bit, more from the shock of how loud he was than anything. "Okay, I can understand that." She kept her voice calm, trying to get him to relax again. "But really Jim? You're not exactly known for being a particularly attached or caring person. I don't think any of your enemies would think to hurt me as their first plan. None of them would genuinely think you cared enough about me to do anything about it."

"That doesn't mean they wouldn't kidnap you and torture you to try and get information about me."

"I'm not worried about it. You know why? Because I'm me. Nobody thinks I'm important enough to be a part of anything. And there's no way anyone with a brain would see me with you and think "wow that mousy morgue worker probably is the key to unraveling Moriarty's network" that'd be a ridiculous conclusion."

"Don't call yourself mousy" He snapped, "I hate when you say things like that about yourself."

"Jim, I'm asking you nicely, please stop having people follow me. It's one thing if someone's made a threat to you that they're going to hurt me. It's another to have people following me all the time for no reason. I want you to call them off starting tomorrow."

"And if I don't."

"Then you won't be welcome here until you do." Molly had decided on the cab ride over that if it got to this point she would just have to lay down the law. She knew from the start it would probably come to this, Jim was nothing if not stubborn. Jim raised his eyebrows at her in an exaggerated expression of surprise. "You'd really stop seeing me because I want you to be safe."

"I can be safe without people following me like creeps." Molly refused to be manipulated by him twisting it around. She wasn't going to fall for his bullshit, even if he gave her puppy dog eyes and pouted.

"Fine." He gave in so suddenly she thought she'd imagined it.

"Seriously?"

"If you want to risk getting tortured so you could have a little privacy that's your issue."

"You just don't want me to stop seeing you." Molly smirked. She couldn't resist rubbing it in his face, at least a little bit.

"I just don't feel like arguing with you." He shot back, his voice cold.

"Oh shut up, don't be such a sore loser." Molly walked over and joined him on the couch, a gloating smile fixed on her face. Jim set Toby on the ground and turned towards Molly. "You're sure you don't want even one person looking out for you to make sure you're safe?"

"I'm going to hit you  _so_  hard if you don't let it go." Molly glared at him and he finally put his hands up in surrender. "You've turned into a very violent person Molly Hooper." Jim teased.

"I'm sure you hate it." Molly smiled back at him knowingly. "I'm going to put on my pajamas and then we can watch some telly."

"Wait- what? Why are we going to watch tv?" Jim's face made it clear he had other plans for her in mind.

"It's a Thursday, Glee is on in like ten minutes."

"No, I'm not watching that. I watched it with you when I was pretending to be a boring IT worker. I'm not doing that again." Jim stood up and started telling her that he was going to just read in her room for a while until Molly cut him off.

"You're going to watch Glee with me, it won't kill you."

"You don't have any scientific facts to back that statement up."

Molly pointed to the couch, "Sit down or I swear to god I won't have sex with you for a month."

Jim's mouth dropped open into a tiny 'o' of shock and he instantly reverted to pouting. "That's not fair. I'm calling your bluff, because if you did do that you'd suffer too."

"Trust me, I've gone longer than a month without sex, I'll be just fine." Jim looked her up and down, sizing up whether she was serious. "But-" he began and she pointed back to the couch. "Sit down and once it's over you can do whatever you want with me." His face noticeably lit up when she said that and he marched right back over to her couch and sat down.

Molly fought back the urge to rub it in that it was twice in one night now that she'd won their little battle of wills. She rooted through her pajamas and finally settled on a pair of small cotton shorts and one of Jim's white v-neck t-shirts he'd left strewn on her dresser. When Molly walked back out she pretended to be oblivious to the way Jim stared at her.

"I borrowed one of your shirts to sleep in, I hope you don't mind." She turned on her television and flipped it over to the correct channel just as Glee was starting. "I don't even know what's going on. It's not like I spent the last two years keeping up with Glee." Jim was complaining and pouting like a child and Molly was having a hard time not laughing hysterically.

"Some characters live in New York now, and there are all kinds of new characters. Just relax, watching Glee won't kill you."

"I'm still not sure that's true." He grumbled under his breath and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You shouldn't have pretended to like it when you watched it with me, now you can deal with the consequences."

About halfway through the episode Jim started to get noticeably antsy just like he used to when they watched it together years ago. He leaned in and brushed his lips against her neck, sending butterflies dancing in her stomach. His lips were soft, just barely touching her neck at first and then he gently bit her neck just above her collarbone. Molly bit her lip and Jim met her eyes with a mischievous smile. "Now I remember why I didn't mind watching Glee with you." He whispered before biting her ear, lightly tugging it between his teeth and sending shivers of pleasure through her.

"That's not fair, you're not watching the show." Molly protested, her voice sounding small and unconvincing. Jim's eyes danced wickedly as he took her in and Molly sighed and gave in, using his t-shirt to pull him to her as she leaned backwards on the couch. Jim moved easily and pinned her underneath him on the couch, kissing her roughly. There was a desperation to his kiss that turned her legs into jelly. He moved so he was positioned between her legs and pushed his hips into hers, he was hard against her thin cotton shorts. Molly reacted immediately, arching her back into him and pulling up at the bottom of his shirt. Jim stopped her and pulled his shirt back down.

"Not so fast, it's my turn to torture you now." He teased with an evil smile. He pulled away from her and let his hands explore her body, tracing her curves as he moved away from her on the couch. Finally he reached her shorts and pulled them off easily, moving his lips to her inner thighs once the shorts were discarded onto the ground. Molly's hands clutched the couch on either side of her and she moaned as Jim gently bit down on her thigh to tease her.

"Jim" His name was barely a pleading whisper as he moved his lips between her legs. His lips were firm but gentle and Molly could feel the pleasure building up inside of her. She felt like her body was on fire under his touch. A loud moan escaped her lips and the couch suffered as she tightened her grip on it, losing herself in the pleasure he was giving her.

"Jim, please" she pleaded, desperate for him now. Jim obeyed and had his pants off in an instant. After sliding a condom on he parted her legs and slid into her, eliciting another quiet moan from her as he filled her. Molly's arms tightened around him and she pushed her hips up to meet his, allowing him to move more deeply into her. He moved inside of her at a tortuously slow pace until Molly whimpered in protest once she couldn't stand it anymore. Smirking down at her he firmly gripped her waist and he pulled her to him, moving quicker and more purposefully against her. Jim pulled her up to him, switching positions so she was on top of him, her legs wrapped around his waist. He sunk his teeth into her neck, eliciting a loud groan from her as the pleasure of it mixed with the sharp tingling of pain.

Jim loved to bite, she learned that quickly, and she had been surprised to discover how much she enjoyed it. Molly took control now, pushing him back and holding him down as she circled her hips, enjoying every little gasp and noise he made in response. His hands moved up, gripping her waist, his thumbs just underneath her breasts as he held her. "Oh god." His voice was breathy and barely disguised his need. Jim moaned and leaned up, kissing her hungrily, the kiss almost bordering on violent. His hand tangled in her hair and he pulled her head back lightly, exposing her neck again as he increased his rhythm. She moved her hips with his, keeping time with his thrusts. Molly had to steady herself and held onto his shoulders, allowing her nails to sink into his skin as her pleasure grew almost overwhelming.

"Hold on" he commanded, his voice firm and demanding as he deepened his thrusts into her. He kissed her again, this time taking her bottom lip between his teeth and sucking on it to tease her. "Jim" she cried out against his lips and he nodded. "Let go Mol." He gave her his permission and almost on cue her orgasm ripped through her, taking Jim along with her and leaving both of them clinging to each other breathless and gasping for air, Molly on her back and Jim's face buried into the crook of her neck.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that." She finally spoke once she could breathe again. Having sex with Jim was like a new and exciting experience every time. It was very rarely ever the same and it could range from being sweet to being almost violent in nature, his methods changing as often as his moods. She didn't care how he fucked her though, it was incredible every time. At first she had worried that he would get bored of her, due to her clear lack of experience compared to him. But he'd helped her get over that quickly, assuring her that she didn't have to be experienced, that all he wanted was her. He had even told her one time he was glad she was inexperienced. That he savored being her teacher and watching her grow more confident each time.

Jim propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at her. "I don't think I'll ever get used to you." He replied, his eyes soft and almost sleepy. Molly felt her cheeks get hot as she blushed. She knew it was ridiculous but she found herself blushing more when he said sweet things to her than when he looked at her like he wanted to devour her. It made no sense. She reached up and traced his jawline with her finger, admiring how beautiful he was when he looked so relaxed. "I know you think I'm crazy having people watch you, but I just genuinely worry something will happen to you. I just want to protect you."

Molly nodded and felt an unfamiliar swell of happiness in her chest. "I know." She smiled up at him, "Nothing is going to happen to me. I'm dating the most dangerous man in England, I've never felt more safe."

She knew that was the right thing to say by the way his smile lit up in his eyes. There was always a thinly veiled danger to Jim, even when he was happy. But he looked like any normal guy right now, he looked content. She still had a hard time reconciling that he looked happy because of her, even after all of the time she'd spent with him. It just didn't seem realistic that she could be the source of someone like Jim Moriarty's happiness.

"Do you ever worry that I'm not enough for you?" The thought slipped out before she could catch herself and Jim's expression turned serious again.

"No." He shook his head and used his thumb to trace over her bottom lip. "Never." That was all she needed to hear to put her back at ease. Her eyelids were beginning to feel heavy and she could feel sleep taking hold of her. She faintly felt Jim start to move away and reached for him, relaxing again as he picked her up and held her firmly in his arms. She nuzzled her face into his neck and only opened her eyes once he had tucked her into her bed. "Aren't you coming to bed?" She asked gently, her voice heavy and exhausted.

"I still have some work to do, get some sleep darling." He leaned in and kissed her lazily. "Goodnight, love." She felt the same tingling warmth she always felt when he called her love, it was her favorite pet name he had for her. Of course, he knew that so he barely used it just to torture her. "Goodnight Jim." The words barely escaped her lips before sleep finally claimed her.


	6. Chapter 6

Molly was in her office when she was interrupted by a few short knocks on the door. "You can come in." Molly called out, happy to see her friend Cordelia enter with a small wave. "How's it going Molly"

"Good, how's everything going with you?" Molly closed up her book she had been reading and focused on her friend. "Oh, it's good. I actually just came in here because I wanted to see if you'd like to join me and a few of the other doctors out for a drink tonight?"

"What time are you guys planning on going out?"

"Well I get off at eight, and the other doctors who are coming get off around nine. So we're all just going to head up to the pub as we finish our shifts and meet there." Cordelia sat down in one of the chairs and crossed her legs. Molly bit her lip and considered the offer. She really would like to go out with her co-workers, she rarely got invited to anything like that. Plus her and Cordelia had been continually growing to be better friends over the past few weeks. But on the other hand she hadn't seen Jim in over two weeks and she had plans to meet him at her flat once she was off work.

"I don't know." Molly admitted, "I'd love to go, and I get off at eight. But I haven't seen my boyfriend in two weeks because he's been off on business. I was supposed to meet him tonight."

"Invite him out with us" Delia's eyes flashed with excitement, "I'd love to finally get to meet him. Put a face with the stories." Molly and Delia had been hanging out at work and taking their breaks together for the past month or so and Delia loved bringing up Molly's relationship because she was always so shy about talking about it. Delia seemed pretty determined to bring her out of her shell more.

"I don't think that's really a good idea." Molly shifted nervously in her seat and gave an apologetic smile.

"Is he ugly?" Molly was caught off guard by the question and giggled at the thought. Jim wasn't even slightly ugly, Molly thought he was one of the cutest men she'd ever seen. It drove her crazy that he almost had an adorable baby face because it was so contrary to his darker nature. It made it impossible to stay made at him sometimes. "Not at all." Molly finally answered out loud when she realized she hadn't replied.

"Anti-social then?" Delia looked sympathetic. "That's a problem with those city boys. They're so wrapped up in their work they are awful in public situations." He was kind of anti-social but really he just had a superiority complex for the most part. The few times they'd been around a lot of people she'd had to listen to him whine about how awful and puny their minds were for hours once they were alone. He loved going on rants about how it was almost like he was losing some of his own genius IQ being around so many insipid humans at once.

"I guess a little bit, but not really. When he wants to he can charm the pants off of anyone and be the most outgoing person in the room. In fact, he usually likes to be the center of attention."

"I see." Delia laughed, "Then why not? He doesn't sound bad at all."

 _Because he used to work here masquerading as in IT worker. And I_ _'m worried someone will recognize him and make the link that he's Jim Moriarty. The man who was tried and then acquitted for stealing the crown jewels and who then broadcast his face on every telly in England a few months back._ Molly bit her lip again as she admitted the reason in her head. "Do you remember Jim? The IT worker I dated? It was years ago."

Delia thought about it and then nodded as it hit her. "The gay one?" She questioned and Molly nodded. "Oh no, you don't think this new one is gay too?"

"No, I don't think the guy I'm with now is gay."

"Oh, okay. Well I vaguely remember him then. He was really cute from what I can remember. Why do you bring him up?" Molly took it as a good sign that she didn't seem to make the connection. Like Jim said, people seemed to forget stuff like that as soon as it was over. It always blew her mind that people weren't more concerned by his miss me message he broadcast. Everyone pretty much moved past it after about a week. Well, everyone except the people who knew better like Sherlock and Lestrade.

"Well, he's not gay." Molly watched the realization dawn on Delia's face.

"Oh my god, no way! Is that who you've been seeing?"

"Yeah it was a total freak occurrence. We ran into each other and got to talking again."  _If you call him breaking into my apartment and making me talk to him a freak occurrence._  "It turns out he was just mad before that I had blindly believed he was gay. That's why he stopped talking to me."

"Wow, that's so crazy. What a small world."

"Tell me about it. Sherlock has this irrational hatred of him though, so you need to keep that between us if you ever see Sherlock around the hospital." Molly knew his hatred of Jim wasn't irrational at all, but Delia didn't need to know anything about that.

"Absolutely. I don't doubt that he  _does_  hate him." Delia smirked, her comment clearly having subtext to it.

"What do you mean by that?"

"He's probably super jealous, duh. No wonder he told you he was gay." Delia grinned and laughed at how uncomfortable Molly looked.

"No, he's definitely not jealous. Trust me, you don't know Sherlock."

"If you say so" She still looked doubtful. "But really you should come out with us, bring Jim it'll be fun."

"Okay, count me in. I'll text Jim and see if he wants to join us." Molly finally caved in. Her stomach twisted, nervous that Jim would get upset that she'd agreed to go out with her co-workers. She had a good feeling he would be pretty mad, and that he wouldn't want to come either.

"Good" Delia stood back up, "I'll meet you back here in your office at eight so we can head over together." She turned and left to go back to work so Molly dug her phone out of her pocket.

' _Hey Jim. Um- I kind of agreed to go out for drinks with some co-workers at eight. I was hoping you could join us.'_ She sent the text and rested her phone on the desk. She attempted to go back to reading but found herself just drumming her fingers on the book waiting for his reply. She really hoped he wouldn't be too mad about her canceling their original plans. She also wasn't sure if she hoped more that he'd join them or that he'd turn down her invitation to meet them.

' **Seriously? - JM'**

Molly could almost picture the smirk on his face. He knew she didn't care very much for drinking so he probably thought it was joke.

' _Yes, Cordelia invited me out and I decided to take her up on it.'_

' **Sure. What time are you going? - JM'**

Molly couldn't believe he actually had agreed to it, and especially that he had agreed to it so easily.

' _Delia and I are leaving the Hospital at eight.'_

' **I'll meet you two at the hospital at eight then. I'll be outside. -JM'**

' _Okay, see you then. Can you try to look as un-moriarty like as you can?'_

' **Should I go full gay? -JM'**

' _No, just maybe go for a normal citizen going to a pub look. No suits or anything over the top please.'_

' **Gotcha, wear my most expensive suit. See you at eight. - JM'**

Molly didn't bother replying to the last text and put her phone away again. She tried to get back to work but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stay focused for more than ten minutes at a time. She knew she was being irrational and the chances that any of the doctors from work would even remember Jim was slim to none. But she couldn't stop imagining scenarios where they found out it was him. In one scenario she imagined the person who recognized him called the cops and Greg Lestrade came and caught Molly with Jim. In another someone recognized him and called him out on it and Jim killed everyone at the bar except her.

That scenario was at least the less likely of the ones she dreamed up. She knew Jim didn't fancy doing any killing himself, he liked to have others do it for him, it kept his hands clean. She was still nervously running through worst case scenarios when Delia came back in, bubbly as ever. "Ready to go?" she was all smiles until she saw Molly's face. "You alright?"

"Oh yeah, sorry, just spacing out." Molly put on her brightest smile and closed everything up for the night. "Let's get out of here, Jim is going to meet us outside." Molly slipped her coat on and followed Cordelia out of her office, locking it behind them.

"Yay, I'm so excited to meet him. I can barely remember him at all."

"Well, technically you've already met him." Molly teased. She was doing her best to push any worries out of her mind and to just enjoy the night. She'd been out with Jim many times, tonight was no different. Nothing would happen, that's what she kept telling herself.

"Oh shut up. You know what I mean." Cordelia nudged Molly playfully. Molly immediately spotted Jim in the small crowd outside of the hospital. He was leaning against a light post with his hands in his jacket pockets. Molly felt her heartbeat quicken as she took him in. She had really missed him, and seeing him sent a thrill of excitement through her immediately. "There he is" Molly pointed him out and Delia whistled appreciatively.

"Well god damn. He's much better looking than my memory gave him credit for." She smiled largely at Molly, "I am suddenly even more happy for you knowing you get to hit that all the time." Molly's mouth dropped open a bit and she knew she was turning red, "Delia, stop it." She giggled and lightly smacked her friend's arm.

Jim made his way over to them, and Molly saw the familiar sense of mischief in his eyes as he looked at her. A hint of a smile played at his face and it was enough to make Molly wish she could just take him back to her flat after all so she could rip his clothes off. Two weeks hadn't sounded like it would be very long. The weeks always seemed to fly by normally, but two weeks with no Jim had turned out to be harder than she imagined.

"Hi." Jim let his eyes linger over her, and she noticed he was speaking with his usual slightly modified accent he always used in public. Jim pulled her into a tight hug and Molly could hear a small appreciative aww from where Delia was standing beside her. When she went to pull away from the hug he held her to him and surprised her with a kiss, parting her lips with his tongue for one teasing second before nipping at her bottom lip and releasing her. He knew exactly how to leave her desperate for more and he always went out of his way to do it.

She knew she was flushed when she turned back to Delia to introduce them. "Cordelia, this is my boyfriend Jim. Jim this is Cordelia, my friend from work." Molly motioned to them back and forth and Jim shook Cordelia's hand like a gentleman. "Nice to meet you, Molly's told me a lot about you." He told her once he released her hand. Molly knew she hadn't ever even mentioned Delia to him, but that was Jim. He always knew what to say to flatter people.

Delia was grinning like a Cheshire cat, "She's told me all about you also." Delia flashed a wide eyed look at Molly none too discreetly when Jim looked away for a second. "Should we head over to the pub?" Molly asked awkwardly, suppressing a laugh at the faces Delia kept shooting her.

"I'll hail us a cab." Jim offered and gave Molly one more quick kiss before making his way over to the street.

"I wish a man would grab me and kiss me like that, my god." She shook her head and held her hand up for a high five. Molly hesitated and then slapped her hand, sending both of them into an immature fit of laughter.

"Sorry, if that was awkward." Molly shuffled nervously. She wasn't sure if it had made Delia uncomfortable, but Delia silenced her with a warning glare. "Don't you dare apologize!" she scolded Molly, "I'm proud of you, and really happy for you. And damn did he get more attractive over the years. I certainly don't sense any gay vibes off of him, not after that." She bit her lip and the two dissolved into more laughter when Molly agreed.

Jim had managed to wave down a cab and he waved the two of them over, holding the door open for them while they climbed in. Delia rattled off the address to the driver once Jim got in. "So where do you work now? Are you still in IT?" Delia leaned forward a bit so she could look at Jim while she talked to him.

Molly caught Jim's split second of an amused smirk but she knew Delia wouldn't pick up on it. "No, I'm in business now."

"Oh, Molly did mention that. But I wasn't sure if you just did IT work for a certain business or what. What do you do? Stocks? Advertisements?"

"I work more in setting up connections between businesses. Say Company A needs something and I know Company D can provide them with it; I set it up for them." Molly had to admit that was a really simplified normal description of what he did. She made sure to take note of it so next time someone asked her what her boyfriend did she could explain it that way instead of panicking to find a lie.

"Oh, very cool. So you must have a lot of connections then?"

"You could say that." He nodded in agreement as they reached the pub. Jim paid before Delia could get her wallet out and Delia thanked him. "You didn't have to pay for the cab." She apologized and Jim waved away her concern. "Don't worry about it, I've got plenty of money. Drinks are on me as well."

Delia began to protest again but Molly shot her a look that told her not to bother. Molly knew Jim definitely had more than enough money and that buying her and Cordelia a few drinks wouldn't break his bank. It probably wouldn't even make a dent. "Thank you so much." Delia replied, "You're too nice."

Jim laughed and smirked, "That's something I don't get told often." Cordelia laughed along with him, probably assuming he was joking. Molly couldn't help laughing too because she knew how ridiculous that compliment really was. Jim put his arm around Molly's waist and steered the two girls to the bar. "I'll take a beer please." Jim ordered first and motioned for the two of them to order. Molly honestly didn't know what to order, she never really drank. "Get her a vodka pineapple" Jim ordered for Molly, reading her dilemma far too easily. "You'll like it."

"I'll take a whiskey and coke" Delia ordered, earning an appreciative nod from Jim. "My friend Sebastian would be very impressed that you like whiskey and coke. That's his drink of choice. Well, that and straight whiskey."

Molly made a face when he brought up Sebastian. She had only met Sebastian the one time, but it had not gone well whatsoever. He had to be one of the most awful people she'd ever met. It wasn't even that he was a sniper and that she knew he was Jim's go to man for any time he wanted someone dead. She couldn't justifiably hold that against him considering she was dating the person who ordered who he killed. It was that he was the most surly and unfriendly person she'd ever had the displeasure of speaking to.

"I can't drink straight whiskey. I'm not that badass." Delia laughed. The bartender brought all of their drinks and Delia suggested they do a cheers. "To new friends" she called out and they all clinked glasses. Molly took a sip of her drink and smiled, it was actually delicious. "Good choice" she smiled at Jim and he leaned down and kissed her on the nose. "I know you well enough."

"Come dance with me." Delia grabbed Molly's hand to pull her away.

"Delia there are only like two people dancing, no way."

"Don't be such a stick in the mud, come on." Delia didn't take no for an answer and instead dragged Molly over to where a few people, who were far more drunk than them, were dancing and laughing. Delia kept her one hand laced with Molly's and began swaying her hips, trying to get Molly to do the same. Instead Molly just bounced along nervously and took a large sip of her drink. "Just sway your hips" Delia instructed her, doing an exaggerated sway of her own hips as reference, "It's like having sex, just feel the beat. Nobody is judging you, come on."

Molly sighed and tried what Delia was doing. "There you go, just stop worrying so much about what people think and let yourself have fun." Molly was beginning to think she definitely had a type, be it for boyfriends or friends. All of them never seemed to give a damn what anyone thought and just did what they wanted. She wished she could be more like that, but she was definitely more the type to over-analyze everything and care far too much what people thought. She glanced over at Jim who looked throughly amused watching them dance. Molly made a face at him and he just shook his head and took a drink of his beer.

"Mind if we dance with you girls?" two guys walked up, each of them moving behind one of the girls and dancing with them before they even answered. Cordelia giggled and went along with it, pushing her butt into the guy behind her and flirting, but Molly hesitated. "Just dance, sometimes it's fun making your boyfriend jealous." Delia encouraged her.  _Not when your boyfriend is Jim Moriarty it_ _'s not,_  Molly kept the thought to herself. She knew how Jim was. Molly looked back over to Jim who was now leaning against the bar watching them, his jaw set and hard. If you were just glancing at him you'd think he was relaxed, but Molly knew that jaw twitch meant he was fuming.

She turned back to Cordelia and moved closer to her. And more importantly she moved farther away from the guy dancing behind her. She didn't want to dance with him anyways, and it was for more reasons than Jim being the jealous type. She just generally wasn't one to dance with random guys in bars.

"Mind if I cut in" Jim's voice was instantly recognizable behind her, his accent thicker now that he was annoyed. The guy took in Jim's expression and nodded almost immediately, "Sure, man. All yours." He backed off and Jim rested his hand on Molly's waist, pulling her against him in an obviously possessive gesture.

"Let's just go back over to the bar, I'm not big into dancing." Molly took Jim's hand and pulled him away, leaving Cordelia to dance with the guy she was with. "I was worried you were going to go all… grr" Molly made a fake angry face as she said grr and Jim laughed.

"You were rightly worried my dear." Jim said without humor, "He was one step away from being made into shoes."

Molly had a feeling he wasn't joking. "I missed you." She spoke softly and sat next to him on a barstool.

"I missed you too." His eyes softened, losing the hard edge of anger he'd just had. "Though I'd rather be at your flat alone with you right now. Especially after two weeks of not seeing you."

"I know, I'm sorry. I just never get invited out to these kinds of things. Plus Delia and I are getting closer, I didn't want to blow her off."

Jim nodded, "I can't say I really understand. But I don't really care whether I please people." He paused, a wicked smirk lighting up his features, "Except you, I  _definitely_  care about pleasing you." His expression and the way he said it made it clear what kind of pleasing he meant and Molly bit her lip. She was ready to explode with sexual frustration and the way he kept not so subtly hinting at how much he wanted her wasn't helping.

"Well that was fun, thanks for abandoning me out there guys" Delia bounced up to them.

"I'm not one for dancing." Molly apologized.

"Oh, hey Callum and David just got here" Delia waved to them and motioned for them to come over. "Do you know either of them?" she asked Molly.

"No." Molly glanced behind her to look at them, she knew their faces from seeing them around work. But she'd never spoken to either of them.

"Good I'll just introduce everyone then." Delia smiled at the two guys as they waved at everyone and took off their coats.

"Callum, David this is Molly Hooper. She works in the morgue at the hospital, and this is her boyfriend Jim." They both said hi to Molly and Jim. "This is Callum and David." She finished pointing out which one was which. The two ordered beers and the group ended up talking about work for a while. Molly could tell Jim was getting bored of the conversation and sure enough she received a text from him after an hour of listening to them talk.

' **Meet me in the girl's bathroom -JM'**

Molly looked up at him and shook her head at him discreetly before typing back her response.

' _Not a chance.'_

It took all her resolve to turn him down, knowing what he wanted. She was not the type of girl who was going to sneak into the bathroom at a pub to have sex.

' **And why not? - JM'**

' _Maybe because it's indecent?'_

' **Darling, you're dating an indecent man. -JM'**

' _Not happening.'_

"Can you excuse us?" Jim waited for a lull in the conversation to excuse him and Molly, "I just need to talk to Molly, we're going to run out back for a bit." Jim explained, calm and collected like he always was. Molly shot him a hard glare and apologized as he pulled her away. "No problem, take your time." Callum waved off what he thought was Molly's concern that she was being rude. In reality she was just fighting back her desire to hit Jim, knowing that he'd just like it anyways. Jim glanced back and forth and once he saw that they were alone in the hallway for the bathroom he pulled her in, closing and locking the door behind them.

It was actually a pretty nice and spacious one person bathroom, Molly had expected it to be a lot more grungy looking than it was. Not that it mattered what it looked like. She started to say something but Jim cut her off by sandwiching her between him and the wall and pressing his lips to hers in a hard, needy kiss. Molly lost all of her resolve immediately and melted into him. She had missed this. She'd missed his touch and just being near him. It wasn't even that she missed the sex, she missed that too, but she mostly missed Jim being hers to do whatever she wanted with. She moved her hand along the side of his face, feeling the familiarity of his cheekbones under her fingers before resting her arms behind his neck.

"We can't have sex in the bathroom." she breathed out as Jim lowered his lips to her neck, leaving her whole body craving more of his touch. "It's not a bad thing, trust me." He reassured her, "You don't have to feel trashy about it, nobody will even know. Plus if we had it my way we'd be at your flat right now and I would have my head buried between your thighs in a nice comfy bed." Molly knew she was going to lose this battle of wills the second he said that and the mental image flashed into her mind. Her whole body was practically singing for him, desperate for his touch.

She sighed and Jim grinned, knowing he'd won. Jim unbuttoned her black trousers and slid them off, hanging them by a belt loop on the purse hanger that was on the door. "This  _would_  be easier if you had been wearing a skirt."

"Well I can't exactly wear a skirt to work, I work in a morgue. And I wasn't exactly planning on having a quickie in a bathroom with you tonight." Molly shot back. Jim licked his lips smirked at her, "It  _will_  have to be quick. I don't want your co-workers wondering where we are, they don't need to know how naughty my Molly can be." Molly shook her head at him, secretly loving the way it sounded when he called her naughty.

She was about to say something back to him but he silenced her with a kiss again, sliding his hands down her stomach. He pushed two fingers inside of her and worked his palm slowly, relishing the way Molly reacted to it. She arched her back into him and bit her lip to contain a soft moan as his skillful fingers deepened their touch.

When he pulled away Molly whimpered slightly in protest until she saw he had gotten a condom out and he was rolling it on. Jim placed his hands on her butt and lifted her off her feet, using the wall as leverage to get her legs wrapped around his waist as he slid into her. Molly wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face in to her neck as he thrust into her, his speed picking up with each thrust. Molly moaned quietly and could feel herself starting to reach her climax quickly. She could tell Jim was close too and she loved the small moans that escaped his lips.

She didn't think there was a sound in the world she loved more than him moaning because of her. She finished first and bit down on her bottom lip so she wouldn't be loud and Jim followed, burying his head in the crook of her neck as he caught his breath again. Jim brought his lips back to hers, giving her a few light kisses before he gently set her down and pulled away from her.

"I take it back, there's something to be said about bathroom quickies" Molly joked as she cleaned up and got dressed again. "I'll slip out first and then you wait and follow me after a minute or two. I'll tell them you had to stop at the bathroom once we were done talking." He ran a hand through his hair and Molly admired how put together he looked only moments after having sex. She nodded and he peeked out of the door and left, closing it behind him. Molly locked it and walked over to the mirror. She had flushed cheeks and her hair was a slight mess so she combed her fingers through it until she felt like she looked presentable again.

She made her way back to the group and apologized for taking so long. "Hey, I invited Seb to meet us up here." Jim slid his hand around her waist as he told her and Molly looked at him hoping she was holding in how annoyed she was. "Why? Why would you invite Sebastian to come and meet us?"

"Delia and I were talking and he came up again so I figured why not?"

"Maybe because he hates my guts." Molly complained. Her post-sex high disappeared almost immediately at the thought of Sebastian meeting them.

"He doesn't hate your guts, don't be over-dramatic." Molly closed her eyes and forced a smile. She knew for a fact he hated her, she had read it easily enough on his face even without Sherlock's powers of deduction. She had a feeling she knew why too, not that she'd ever broach that topic with Jim.

"That's the pot calling the kettle black, don't you think?" She muttered back, earning her a sharp look from Jim.

"I don't see how I'm being over-dramatic. You have your friend and your co-workers here. why can't I invite my friend out as well?"

"He's not your friend, he's your employee." Molly knew she should stop. She could tell Jim was starting to get genuinely irritated, but she was annoyed now too. Not to mention she was three or four vodka pineapples in so she wasn't thinking very rationally anymore.

"Yes, he is my employee. But he's also the only other person I would consider a friend in my life besides you. I would probably consider him my best friend."

"You  _would_  decide that your best friend is be a psycho who's only joy in life comes from killing people." Molly knew she had crossed the line with that comment the second she saw the way he clenched his teeth and noticed his posture shift to being more stiff and closed off.

"Oh I'm sorry who's your best friend?" There was no playfulness to his voice now. "Cordelia?" he motioned to where Delia was talking to Callum and David a few feet away. When Molly didn't answer he brought his hand to his chin as if he was thinking hard about it. "It's Sherlock isn't it?" Molly shot him an incredulous look. "Yeah right, he just barely considers me his friend he's  _not_  my best friend." Then it hit her that he hadn't really meant the comment about Sherlock because he knew damn well what the real answer was.

"I don't have a best friend." She gave him what he wanted and he smiled about it. This time his smile was mocking and definitely bordering on cruel. "That's right, so what does it say that your psychotic boyfriend has a best friend and angelic Molly Hooper doesn't."

"Fuck you Jim." Molly hated swearing but she couldn't help herself. She hated fighting with Jim. It almost never happened, but when it did it almost always turned into low blows and increasingly harsh comments from each of them as the fight carried on. "I'm not going to do this with you in a crowded pub and in front of my co-workers."

"Of course, because god forbid someone see you flustered and not just see the perfect little persona you like to project for everyone."

"I hate when you act like this." Molly shot back. "You're such a jerk sometimes that I can't believe I normally think you have redeeming features."

"Maybe I don't have redeeming features." He snarled back.

"Maybe you don't." Molly shot back, "Screw you." She walked away and left him standing at the bar. She walked over to an empty booth on the other side of the pub and sat down by herself.  _Fucking asshole._ She forced a smile as Delia sat down across from her with a cautious smile. "You okay?"

"Yeah, no worries." Molly gave a feeble attempt at a lie.

"What happened?"

"We just got into an argument about his stupid friend Sebastian because I hate him and he hates me. But whenever we fight it's just really mean."

Delia grimaced, "I think it's my fault he invited him, so I owe you an apology. We were talking and he mentioned him again. I asked if he was cute and Jim said maybe so I told him to invite him over so I could be the judge."

"Eh, you're fine. Don't apologize, it's a fight that would have happened eventually anyways." Molly noticed the tall man by Jim and pointed, "That's him so you can go be the judge now." She watched Delia's eyes get wide as she looked at the handsome sniper.

Molly didn't blame her, Sebastian Moran was definitely attractive. Tall and toned, he exuded masculinity. And if Molly was admitting the truth he practically oozed sex. He was the type of guy that could get any girl he wanted. But instead he settled for sitting next to Jim with a scowl on his face. Then again Molly had only met him for ten minutes one time, so maybe it was just her that pulled that behavior out of him. She had a nagging feeling that might be the truth. "Go talk to him." Molly nudged her friend with her foot. It was obvious she wanted to, her tongue was practically wagging like a cartoon.

"You sure?"

"Absolutely, the man is gorgeous. Get on it before some other girl does." Delia thanked her and made her way over to the bar where Molly watched Jim introduce Sebastian and Delia. They talked for a minute and then Jim motioned over to Molly. Sebastian turned to look and glowered at her before walking in her direction.  _Oh hell no, if he_ _'s coming over here to lecture me about fighting with Jim I'm going to find something to stab him with_.

"I was told that I had to come talk to you about you and I having issues." Sebastian greeted not hiding how annoyed he was at the idea of speaking to her

Molly stood up and got on her tiptoes to tap Sebastian on the top of the head "Good boy." She adopted the voice people got when they're talking to a dog. She looked over at Jim, who for the first time in history probably looked genuinely shocked. Sebastian balled his fists up at his side and probably used a lot of willpower to keep from strangling her, knowing Jim would kill him if he did. "Sit down." He commanded and Molly used common sense this time and listened.

"I don't want to talk to you." She added indignantly.

"That makes two of us." Sebastian shot back, "But Jim wants us to so get over it."

"Fine, why do you hate me?" Molly fired it at him. "We might as well get to the root of the problem right away."

"Is that really a question?" Sebastian's eyes were steely and cold.

"For what reasons other than me just pissing you off a minute ago. You hated me when I first met you and that was only for ten minutes. I was polite to you that time."

"Honestly? I hate you because you're a huge liability. You're going to get Jim killed." Sebastian practically spat it at her. "He doesn't need to be  _caring_  about people. He needs to focus on his work like he always has. He cares too much about you and it's going to lead to him getting hurt or killed trying to protect you."

Molly sighed and nodded. She could tell by the way he reacted she had been right before about the real reason he hated her. "So that brings us to the real reason you hate me. Just like I thought."

"I just told you the real reason I hate you."

"No you didn't. You told me  _a_  reason, which I'm sure is true. But you can admit it to me Sebastian. Even if I think you're a total jackass I'd never tell Jim."

"I don't know what you're talking about." His tense body language and the rage that flashed in his eyes suggested that wasn't true.

"You have feelings for Jim. That's why you really didn't like me. The other reasons just followed once you looked for valid reasons." She watched Sebastian's face drain of color for a moment and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You've lost your mind. Jim is my boss, it's my job to protect him. If I care about him it's only to the extent that my job depends on him being alive."

"Oh yeah right, I don't believe you. I knew it from the second you glared at me and from the way you looked at Jim when he wasn't looking. I've seen that look before. I promise if you want to get it off your chest I won't tell him. And then you can go back to hating me, and I can hate you back. But at least it'll be for honest reasons."

Sebastian shook his head at her and narrowed his eyes at her. "Fine, yes."

"So you do have feelings for him?"

"Yes, I do. How you picked up on that I don't know. Because I'd like to think I'm pretty good at containing my emotions."

"I'm sure you are." She reverted back to trying to be gentle about what she said. Even if she didn't like him, she could imagine how he felt, especially admitting it to her. "I'm just observant of that kind of stuff I guess. Have you always liked guys?"

Sebastian looked uncomfortable but he shook his head no. "I've never liked a guy in my life, not until Jim. I've dated plenty of girls, and I still only like girls when I consider hooking up with anyone besides Jim. I don't even know how it happened. I just slowly started realizing that I cared about him as more than my boss…and I have no idea why I'm telling you this." He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What the fuck is wrong with me." It was a statement not a question.

"Nothings wrong with you. I'm sure it feels good to get it off your chest. That's why I told you right off the bat you could talk to me about it, I'd never tell him, that's not what I'm like." Sebastian let out a heavy sigh and opened his eyes, meeting hers as he did. "Why wouldn't you tell him? It's not like I've been nice to you."

"Who's to say I would act any differently in your shoes?" Molly answered honestly. "I've never been actually  _in love_  with anyone. But I can tell you back when I had feelings for Sherlock I wouldn't have been too friendly towards Irene Adler had I met her. Or that bitch Janine either, I wanted to punch her when she was throwing herself at him at John's wedding." Sebastian laughed and actually smiled. "Just know, even though you hate me if you ever need to talk I'm here for you."

"How am I even supposed to hate you after you just said stuff like that?" Sebastian complained but he seemed to genuinely smile at her this time. "I'm sorry I was so rude to you when we first met. Deep down I think you're good for Jim. I just worry that emotions will cloud his judgment if something were to happen to you."

"Thank you for saying I'm good for him." Molly considered the second half of his statement carefully before continuing. "The last thing I want is for something to happen to Jim.  _I_  would never do anything to purposely put him in danger and that's as much as I can guarantee. But I'll admit I'm glad he has a sniper for a best friend to keep an eye out for him."

"You know I will." Sebastian agreed. It didn't even need to be said that he meant he'd protect Jim with his own life if he had to, Molly could read it in his eyes. She could tell Sebastian was lonely, and she knew very well how it felt to care about someone and to know it would never happen. She felt for him, and as much as she hated to admit it she was glad Jim had made Sebastian come over to talk to her. She was genuinely surprised that she actually  _liked_  the sniper once they got things out in the open.

"You know, you said you like girls and I'll just give you a little tip from one friend to another" Molly smiled at the amused grin that the word friend brought to his face, "If you're looking to have some fun tonight my friend Delia would definitely not turn you away."

Sebastian looked behind them over to where Jim and Delia were talking at the bar and laughed. "You're sure about that?" he raised one eyebrow at her inquisitively.

"Positive. She just about fainted when you walked into the bar." They both laughed and Sebastian nodded.

"She's cute. Thanks for the heads up." They clinked their glasses together and took a large drink, "You're not bad Molly Hooper."

"You're not bad either Sebastian Moran, imagine my surprise."

"Come on, let's get back over there. I have a hot surgeon to talk to." They stood up and Sebastian actually put his arm around Molly's shoulder as they walked back. The two of them were still joking around and laughing as they reached the bar. "Well, look at you two. From enemies to being arm in arm. I hope I don't have to worry about you running off together." Jim teased, but it was clear he was pleased to see they had in fact worked it out.

"Oh, don't worry. I have my eye on someone else." Sebastian smiled over at Delia as he said it and Molly watched her friend's face light up. "Can I get you another drink?" Sebastian noticed her empty glass and Delia nodded without a second of hesitation. Sebastian put an arm around her waist and pulled her away to the end of the bar, closer to where the bartender was standing. Molly watched him lean in close to her once he had talked to the bartender.

"Sebastian is on the prowl I take it?" Jim asked Molly who responded by nodding. She was still mad at him, and wasn't ready to just forgive and forget about how he always got extra nasty when they argued. "Good. He could use a little bit of unwinding." He seemed oblivious to the fact that Molly was ignoring him and she sat down on a stool, opting to mess around with her phone instead of talking to him. "Oh Jesus, are you really going to stay mad at me?" Okay, so he wasn't oblivious.

Molly put her phone away and looked back up at him. "I don't appreciate that the second we argue you go straight for all of my insecurities to try and hurt me."

"I don't just go straight for your insecurities" He sighed and rolled his eyes, "It was a relevant comment. You were saying I'm a psychopath and that I could only have a psychopath for a best friend. That's a pretty low blow on your part also."

"I didn't say you were a psycho."

"You implied it, don't try to play the innocent card."

"Either way, any time we fight you instantly go for the jugular and try your hardest to say the most hurtful thing you can come up with."

"If I wanted to say the most hurtful thing I could come up with I could do a lot better than saying you don't have a best friend."

"Of course you could." Molly stood up and clenched her fists in frustration. "I need to stop forgetting that however cruel  _I_  think you can be I should probably multiply it by one hundred and that's  _actually_  how cruel you are. My bad." She started to walk towards the door, stopping only to say goodbye to Cordelia and Sebastian.

"You sure you're okay?" Cordelia questioned quickly and Molly had to promise her she was. "Okay, well thanks for coming out with us, Seb and I were actually going to leave and head over to his place soon anyways." Molly couldn't help but grinning at that, "I'm glad to hear that." Molly took the opportunity to make Delia feel uncomfortable, glad she could turn the tables on her, and laughed, "I'm glad you two hit it off." She hugged Cordelia and even Sebastian pulled her into a quick hug. "See you at work Monday" Molly waved, aware the Jim was following her out and still ignoring him.

She put her hand up for a cab and Jim grabbed her arm and pushed it back down again.

"What are you doing?"

"Clearly trying to get a cab so I can go home. And no you can't come over. Go to your own apartment tonight."

"Seriously Molly? I don't want to fight with you. You're the last person I want to fight with."

"Well, it's a bit too late for that isn't it? Because I'm not just going to stand around while people belittle me or take advantage of me anymore. I used to be that person but I won't do it anymore."

"I don't want you to be that person anymore and you know that. I told you I love the way you've gotten stronger and the way that you stick up for yourself. Don't act like I try to make you be all submissive and mousy because that's bullshit!" He yelled now, his patience finally gone. "Don't you think this is a bit of a moot point anyways considering you were wrong and Sebastian clearly doesn't hate you. All it took was for you to actually talk to him for a bit which was my point in the first place!"

"Yes! Congratulations Jim!" Molly clapped her hands and laughed sarcastically. "You're always right because you're so much smarter than everyone. For your information he did hate me until you made him talk to me. So  _I_  was right, even if he doesn't hate me anymore."

"OH MY GOD!" Jim grabbed at the sides of his head and turned away from her, kicking a garbage can over as he yelled. "Yes I am smarter than everyone but that's besides the point right now. You're just saying anything to keep the fight going. And what for?! You know damn well how much I care about you and that I'm sorry for saying it. You just won't let it fucking go!"

Molly and Jim both turned their attention to a guy who had run up to them once Jim kicked the garbage over. The man stepped towards Molly and glanced nervously at Jim. "Are you okay ma'am?" Molly smiled at him and nodded. He was a middle aged man, and he looked genuinely worried about her. "I saw you two fighting and I just wanted to make sure you were alright." He glanced back at Jim again and something flashed in his features that Molly couldn't pinpoint, fear most likely. He was probably worried he'd be the next thing Jim would kick over since Jim still looked furious.

"I'm okay, it's just a little spat. Thanks for checking on me." She meant it too. She knew it took guts to interrupt a fight between people you didn't know, and she liked the idea that a stranger would care enough to make sure she was alright. But she knew Jim wouldn't ever hurt her, even when he lost his temper she didn't doubt that. The man just nodded and slowly walked away, watching Jim the whole time until he turned the corner again.

Molly took a deep breath and let it out through her nose to calm herself down. She knew Jim did have a point. "I just don't appreciate having things like that called out by the one person I feel like I can trust to  _not_  have those thoughts about me. It hurts more." Molly saw his features soften and knew he really did feel bad. "I know I haven't really opened up to you about my past or growing up. So I know I can't hold it against you for not knowing that things like that hit a nerve…" Molly trailed off and hated that she could feel her eyes burning with tears. She didn't want to cry in front of him.

Jim pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "You need to realize that I'm not used to having to be cautious about what I say because I normally don't care if it hurts someone. That's usually my intent in saying something, but you have to know that I don't actually want to hurt you. I'm just not used to  _this_ , this having a relationship and what not."

Molly nodded against his chest, "I know."

"It's still not an excuse, I get that. But just please stop being mad at me."

"Fine. I guess I can do that." Molly gave in and wiped at a stray tear before wrapping her arms around him to return his embrace.

"And I hope you feel like you can open up to me about anything you would want to talk about. You told me that once and I promise I would listen to you too if you wanted to talk. We both have our problems."

Molly laughed and agreed, "I think that's an understatement with the two of us."

"Maybe that's why we fit together so well." Molly couldn't believe how honest and genuinely sweet of a statement it was. It's not as if he didn't express how much he cared about her, but he hadn't ever said anything like that. Jim was more about showing how he felt through actions rather than words. He could talk all day about nearly anything, until it came down to him actually talking about real feelings, then he usually shut up pretty fast.

"I think you're probably right."

"So can we go home then? Together?"

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea."

"Good, because I've been not so patiently waiting for over two weeks to be able to fall asleep next to you again." Jim put his hand up to hail a cab so they could finally go home.

"I like it when you're nice." She teased, knowing he'd hate it.

"Don't push your luck Hooper." He deadpanned back, but Molly could see in his eyes he was amused. His eyes were always so expressive, they always gave little things away about him. Even when he tried so hard to make sure every other part of him was expressionless. She hadn't noticed it when she had first started seeing him again, but the more she spent time with him the more she could make out his little quirks like that.

A cab finally pulled up to them and Jim held the door open for her like he always did. Jim gave her address and allowed her to lean against him, resting her head on his chest and closing her eyes. "Let's get to your place and get some sleep." Jim muttered quietly, stroking her hair idly. Molly just mumbled in reply, sleep sounded like the greatest idea he'd had all night.


	7. Chapter 7

Molly woke up as Jim was climbing back into bed with her. She rubbed her eyes and a large grin spread on her face as she felt him nuzzling the back of her neck. "Good morning." She mumbled, her voice clouded with sleep. "How long have you been up?"

"About an hour, I had a few calls to make."

"A criminal empire never sleeps." Molly commented, earning laughter in reply.

"Very true. I have to meet a client tonight, set up some plans for them."

"I don't want to know." Molly rolled over to face him. Their faces were so close their noses were almost touching. An amused smile twitched at his lips and he shook his head at her. "I'm well aware you don't want to know. I wasn't going to tell you what the plans were."

"Oh." Molly bit her lip, feeling a bit stupid. She'd made the fact that she didn't want to hear about his job pretty clear when they first started seeing each other again. She was almost positive even if she  _did_  want him to tell her stuff like that he wouldn't. She knew Jim had plenty of secrets not even she would ever find out.

"What I was trying to get at was that I'm free all day. So I figured we could just spend the day together." Molly felt her spirits pick back up again and smiled excitedly. "We could just stay in bed all day." She offered, enjoying the thought of just being with Jim like this all day. Both of them relaxing, not having to worry about their jobs for a day. She smiled against his lips as he kissed her. A deep kiss she eagerly leaned into.

Jim ended the kiss, a smirk taking over his features. "As much as I'd love that, I was hoping maybe we could just talk for a bit. At least at first."

Molly tried not to look so taken off guard and composed herself before she spoke. "Talk? About what?" Her stomach knotted nervously. Anytime one of her boyfriends had spoken like that it had never ended well for her.

"About you. I meant what I said last night. I want you to feel like you can open up to me about things like your past. You've done the same for me." Molly felt herself tense up and let out a deep breath she had been holding in. "We both have our demons, I know that, I can see it in the way you react to certain situations." Molly found herself wishing, and not for the first time, that she didn't surround herself with so many people who could read every thing about her from a single glance. In that way she missed the uncomplicated personality of Tom. He had never even  _tried_  to deduce anything about her as far as she knew.

Jim took in her slightly panicked look and kissed her softly on the nose, "Look Mol, you don't have to. But I highly doubt that you have anything near as sordid of a back story as I do."

A nervous laugh escaped her and she agreed. "Yeah, I don't think it'll even come close."

"Just know if you  _do_  decide you want to get it off your chest you can always tell me. It doesn't have to be today obviously, just take that as a general offer." Molly met his almost black eyes and felt her chest tighten. The prospect of discussing her past with anyone terrified her. But here was her own personal devil staring down at her with soft eyes and a dangerous smile, willing her to spill her guts to him. She could feel her resolve slipping as the seconds passed by. She  _did_  want to talk to him.

The fact of the matter was that she cared far too much for Jim. She knew she shouldn't have feelings this deep for him. Those soft, kind eyes he was watching her with now masked a cold darkness he carried within himself. But she knew it was too late for her, it was helpless to try and fight her feelings for him at this point. She was already pulled out to sea and drowning in them, there'd be no swimming to safety now.

"Well that's not a fun day off." She attempted to divert the conversation before she lost all of her resolve and spilled her guts. She climbed on top of him, one leg on either side of him, and ground her hips into his, enjoying his small intake of breath and the way his already coal black eyes appeared to darken.

"I already said I'm not going to force you to talk about it. I just wanted to offer the option since you were screaming at me about it last night during our fight. You don't need to use sex to switch subjects." Jim rolled his eyes as Molly gave up and flopped next to him on the bed again.

"I was just drunk. My life isn't that bad, honestly, I just need to suck it up."

"Honey, you tend to only fall for sociopaths. I'm not a shrink but I'd be willing to bet something lead to that very specific preference in men."

"Everyone has a type, that's just mine." She defended, her response sounding lame even to her own ears.

"Alright. Just remember if there's anyone who's going to listen without judgment it'd be me. I think we both know I can't hold it against you for not being perfect. Though, I am pretty close to perfection myself."

"Oh, you don't think you have any faults?" Molly tried not to laugh at how insane that sounded. She only didn't because she knew he was joking.

"Just that I'm very changeable."

"What, how are you changeable?"

"I can be very fluid. I tend to change my mind at the drop of a hat, it keeps life more interesting, plus it keeps people on their toes." Molly didn't say anything and just nodded thoughtfully instead. "What?" His eyes searched her face, trying to figure out why she seemed so deep in thought no doubt.

"It's just… do you think you're going to change your mind about wanting to be with me?" She felt the familiar tug of nerves pull at her chest. She hated how often she considered that exact problem. There had been nights she had kept herself awake worrying he'd lose interest in her. But it wasn't just that he'd break her heart that worried her. What she really worried about were what were the chances he'd change his mind and then have to kill her because she knew entirely too much about him.

Jim grinned, but his smile just made her even more uneasy. Whenever he smiled as large as he was now, it always seemed almost animalistic in nature. It was as if his smile could barely contain the feral darkness she knew was always scratching at the surface. The worst part was that it turned her on in a way it really shouldn't. ' _I guess it_ _'s just further proof that I'm more messed up than people think'_  Molly couldn't help the thought from creeping into her mind.

"Oh Molly." He sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his hand lingering, cupping the side of her face. "No, I don't see myself changing my mind about that." Molly knew he was telling the truth, she was getting better at discerning between when he was lying or telling the truth. Though to be fair, she only sensed he was lying to her when the truth would inevitably involve telling her something about his work. She smiled up at him, but he clearly read that she had more questions below the surface. "And no, if I ever  _did_  change my mind about being with you I wouldn't lay a hand on you, let alone kill you." He seemed to think about it and then tagged on "Unless you did something stupid. Like if you attempt to betray me, and force my hand."

She knew she didn't have to assure him out loud that she would never do that. It went unspoken, but understood, between them like so many other things. "I was never physically abused like you were as a child." Molly's confession caught Jim off guard and he turned his focus entirely on her again. "Um- I guess it was more emotional abuse than anything. Maybe just neglect."

She paused, unsure where she wanted to start until Jim gave her a small smile and it gave her the confidence to continue. "My mother didn't want me. She was a model, not for anything major, but good luck telling her that. She wanted to get an abortion, but my Aunt Jessa talked her out of it. My mother always blamed me for the fact she never made it big in the modeling world. She never even tried to hide her resentment for me."

Molly paused again as Jim took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together and resting their hands in the space between them. He squeezed her hand, knowing she was having a hard time re-hashing all of these old feelings. "She also always hated how ugly I was. She was constantly telling me god must have cursed her with a plain child to punish her for having sinful thoughts about getting an abortion."

Jim's eyes flashed as if fire had been lit behind them, the rage he was feeling evident in the depths of his black eyes. "Both her and my father were far more concerned with their social standing in the community than with me. I was only an endless disappointment to them. I wasn't pretty enough to warrant their attention. And I also wasn't smart enough to make up for how plain I was. I was just an all around failure to them. Plus I had no friends at school, so I had to deal with being ignored by half of my classmates and bullied by the rest. Only to come home and be told what a disappointment I was to my parents as well."

Molly watched Jim's jaw clench and his grip had tightened on her hand to the point where it was almost painful. "Jim, you're hurting me." She spoke softly to calm him, and he instantly loosened his grip. "I don't have to remind you that you're not allowed to find my mother and have her killed do I?"

She knew he was dangerously angry when he didn't even attempt to laugh to soothe her nerves. He settled for a curt nod instead, "I understand."

"Murder isn't the answer to everything." Molly reminded him gently.

"No, but it certainly helps in some cases." His voice was cold, almost hollow.

"Jim, I can't tell you these things if you get this angry about them." He sighed and eventually nodded, a silent promise he wouldn't hurt her mother and an urge to continue. She cast him a concerned look before continuing again.

"I was lucky though. When I was nine my Aunt Jessa actually moved in with us because she got a job at St. Bart's Hospital. She used to live in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. But she worked in a really small hospital there, and she wanted to move closer to us. So when she got hired at St Bart's she decided to save money by moving in with my family. My father was well off, so we had more than enough room for her."

"She was my best friend and she took care of me in a way my parents had never even tried to. She even convinced her boss to let her bring me to work with her. She promised him I was smart and could basically be like an unpaid intern of sorts." Molly smiled at the memory. "How she convinced them it would be appropriate for a nine year old to help her in the morgue I'll never know."

She genuinely smiled as memories of her times spent with her aunt danced in her head, chasing out the bad memories of her childhood and replacing them with great ones instead. "She was a pathologist also and after going to work with her a few times I fell in love with the work also."

"At age nine you knew you wanted to be a pathologist?" Jim looked amazed, "Being around dead bodies didn't scare you? Even when you were a child?"

"Nope" Molly shook her head, "I know most nine year olds probably don't prefer the company of corpses to kids their own age. But I'm just a freak I guess." Jim could hear the sadness tinged in the statement and pulled her in to him. Molly eagerly wrapped her arms around him and leaned her forehead against his chest.

"Well to be fair, you aren't most people Molly. You're better." Jim comforted her. "Plus, liking other children is overrated. At least you took the high road and decided to work  _with_  dead bodies. I decided to actively participate in making other people  _into_  dead bodies."

Molly knew she shouldn't laugh at that but she couldn't help it. "When did you know you wanted to run a criminal network?"

Jim looked down at her with raised eyebrows, shocked she was asking him about his business for once. "When I was thirteen."

"Some little boys dream of being football players, some dream of being the napoleon of crime."

Jim laughed appreciatively. "Some little boys have very particular skill sets love. Plus I was always shit at football."

"Yeah, but what happened at thirteen that made you decide you'd rather use your intelligence for criminal activities rather than becoming a doctor or a scientist or something?"

"I got away with my third murder with barely any effort."

"Carl Powers?" Molly asked quietly and Jim nodded.

"That was proof that I really had a knack for it and I figured why not put it to good use and get paid for it as well."

"How did you even get started building up a criminal network like that though?" Molly knew it was probably pushing the boundaries of what he'd want to tell her, but she couldn't even imagine how one would get something like that started. So to imagine that he got it to where it was now was mind blowing to her.

"I thought you didn't want to know anything about any of that stuff?"

"I guess I want to know you, and it's important to who you are."

"Just practice I guess. I started out by running everything at my school. I had the answers to every test. I had the locker combinations to every locker in school. And most importantly I knew who to target. I knew who would be interested in procuring services such as those. So once I showed them what I could do they passed it on to the people they knew would be interested and it built from there."

Molly almost giggled as the mental picture of a teenage James Moriarty handing out test answers and locker combinations ran through her head. It was such an innocent mental image compared to the one she had of him now, helping to plan perfect assassinations and bombings. "That's almost an adorable mental image, sorry. What if they got caught? You just trusted them now to turn you in?"

"They knew better than that. One kid tried to do that once. He warned me he was going to be expelled and that he was going to turn me in so they wouldn't punish him. He changed his mind about that pretty fast when I told him how easy it'd be to tamper with his inhaler."

Suddenly it wasn't as adorable of a mental image anymore, and she was reminded that he still employed the same techniques back then as he did now. "From there it just grew into legitimacy. I made real contacts and learned how to always distance myself from everything I set up. That way no one could ever get to me, and my network could remain safely under my control."

"I can't even imagine how you got all of this started at only thirteen. I can't even imagine having to be a manager, I wouldn't want to be in charge of any one."

"Are you impressed?" he smiled, knowing the answer.

"Slightly, yeah. But also terrified thinking about all of the things you probably had to do to get it to where it is now, you were obviously really determined."

"Is determination a bad thing?"

"Maybe when it's determination to help bad people get away with really terrible things." She chewed her bottom lip as she considered what she wanted to say. "It kind of reminds me that just because I see a different version of you than the rest of the world, that doesn't mean that the Moriarty my friends are all terrified of isn't there. I think I sometimes forget that."

Jim considered that, and nodded slowly as he did. "I always get worried you're about to run away from me as quickly as you can every time I see that realization dawn in your eyes. That realization that you're with a man who's essentially a living and breathing devil."

Molly reached up and took his face in her hands. "You're not a devil." She knew it was a stretch to say that. After all, he did do horrible things and she knew he didn't feel any remorse for them. But it just didn't ring true to her. She saw honest flashes of good in him. They didn't show themselves as often as she saw the flashes of his darkness, but they were there.

And even if she was the only person who would ever get to see a glimpse of that in him, she couldn't help but think that if he was really a psychopath, really a devil, that those flashes of good wouldn't exist. "I think you like to say things like that about yourself as a defense mechanism. It helps you cope with things if you say you're a psychopath or a devil, it helps you excuse the things you do."

"Are you psycho-analyzing me?" he looked extremely amused at the prospect.

"Maybe a little." She made a face and held up her pointer and thumb finger so that they were almost touching. "But for the record, I think there's only one thing you could really do to make me run." Her voice wavered as she admitted that to him. She was uncomfortable laying out how she felt about him so plainly, not knowing how he would take it. She wasn't sure she wanted him to actually know how much she truly cared for him, she had a hard time admitting it to herself most of the time.

"You mean if I kill one of your friends." He spoke evenly, "The line in the sand."

"Yep."

"You really care about me that much?" For once Jim sounded unsure, as if the prospect of her caring about him like that was unbelievable. "Even as you find out more of the things I've done, you still want to stay with me?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Molly groaned, "I would have ran months ago if I had a brain."

"That's the truth." Jim purred, stroking his fingers though her hair. "I didn't think you'd give in that night I came here to talk to you."

"You mean the night you broke in? I think saying you came here to talk to me is a little mild considering how it really went down."

Jim grinned, pleased with himself. "Yes, that's exactly what I mean."

"I knew it wasn't the right thing to do. But I couldn't deny how relieved I was when you told me you hadn't used me. It brought back all of my thoughts about how I thought we had a real connection. I had buried those once I thought you had played me. And the relief that you really weren't gay."

Jim made a face as if that was debatable, earning a playful slap from Molly. "Don't tell me you have a secret boyfriend somewhere." She teased.

"You caught me. Seb and I are in a torrid love affair. I didn't want to hurt you." At the thought of that Molly began laughing almost hysterically. If only Sebastian could hear that for himself, she was sure he'd turn as red as a tomato. Or he'd just excuse himself and cover his feelings with an angry scowl more than likely.

"I knew I couldn't trust that blonde bastard."

"If Sebastian heard me say that he'd probably have my head." Jim laughed along with her. "He's always berating me, telling me I should act more professionally. The man doesn't understand having fun while on the job. It's that military background of his."

"Clearly he handles his military background different from John. John's nowhere near as serious as Sebastian seems to be."

"Sebastian has his moments, don't let him fool you. I wouldn't be able to keep him around if he didn't manage to loosen up and have a good laugh from time to time."

Their conversation was interrupted by Molly's phone going off on the nightstand beside her. She picked it up and stared at the text.

' **Need your help on a case. Come to 221B at once. - SH'**

The words stared back at her, their urgency demanding her attention. It wasn't often that Sherlock needed her help on a case. Chances were that either John was busy with Mary and the baby today, or it was something that called more for her particular set of skills. "I hate to tell you this but I think I need to go." Molly spoke slowly, unsure of whether Jim would get upset she had to leave him to go help Sherlock.

"Does the great Sherlock Holmes require your help?" Jim's voice was teasing, but he didn't seem angry.

"I guess. It seems pretty urgent. Do you mind?"

"I'm not your keeper Molly, if you have to go help him than go help him." Jim pulled her in and kissed her slowly. The feel of his lips seemed to linger on her own even after he pulled away. "I'm not worried about him anymore. I think it's rather clear that you're all mine now."

The words were possessive but in a strange way they felt nice. She wasn't mad to hear she was his, it made her glad, especially since it erased the worry that he'd get jealous again. "Go solve a mystery." He slapped her behind as she climbed out of bed and she gave him a feigned look of annoyance before cracking a smile.

She hurried into some comfortable clothes and made herself a cup of tea to take with her in a thermos. Once she was ready she hurried back into her room and gave Jim one last kiss. "Good luck tonight." She told him, referring to whatever meeting he would be going to.

"No luck needed, don't worry. Good luck with your case." She leaned down and kissed him. Laughing as his fingers messed up her hair again. "I know you did that on purpose, you bastard." She called over her shoulder, running her fingers through it to fix it again. With that she left her apartment and caught a cab over to Baker Street. She settled into the backseat of the cab, her excitement taking over and leaving her slightly giddy as she tried to imagine what the case could be. No matter what it turned out to be, she knew it'd be interesting.


	8. Chapter 8

As soon as Molly had stepped foot into 221B Sherlock had ushered her right back out the door. "You could have gotten here sooner" he said as he flagged down a cab. "But thank you for coming." He tacked on after seeing the irritated look Molly shot him.

"I got here as fast as I could." Molly said, following Sherlock into the cab. He gave the cabbie their destination and turned his attention back to Molly. "It's my day off, so I was relaxing. And since I wasn't expecting you to call, it took some time to get ready. Where are we going anyways?"

"A cemetery. An army colonel's grave was dug up last night in what appears to be an attempt at hiding another body in it." Sherlock grinned, "It couldn't have come at a better time. I was starting to get bored."

"Thank god people get murdered." Molly quipped and Sherlock agreed before realizing she had meant it sarcastically. Sometimes she saw such strong flashes of Jim in Sherlock, and vice versa, that she almost wanted to laugh. It made her wonder if she just gave off a vibe that sociopaths couldn't help but gravitate towards her. More likely it was the other way around though.

"So there has to be something special about this case right? Otherwise couldn't they just use the forensic team to try to find fingerprints or something?"

Sherlock gave her an appreciative nod, "The body is missing the head, and it looks as if the head was ripped off. Gary wants me to come take a look and give him any deductions I can make."

"Greg, not Gary." Molly corrected. "The head was ripped off? Like someone pulled the head off of the body?" Molly cringed at the thought and Sherlock grinned, "Exciting isn't it?"

"Horrifying is more like it." Molly made a face as she considered the strength that would be required to pull someone's head off their body. Changing the subject she asked "Where's John? Why isn't he here?"

"The baby is sick, so he's needed at home." His short answer made it clear he didn't want to discuss it, so they rode the rest of the way to the cemetery in silence. Once they reached the cemetery Sherlock led them to where Greg Lestrade and three officers were standing around a taped off grave.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here." Greg looked surprised when he noticed Molly hurrying after Sherlock. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you again too" Molly greeted him in return. Molly and Greg had become relatively good friends, even though they didn't see each other often. She had been there for him when his wife left him once again, and she knew he felt protective over her as well. Molly gave him a quick hug, which earned her a scowl from Sherlock.

"Has anyone touched the body?" Sherlock asked with a pointed look at Greg.

"No, I told them to hold off until you were done inspecting it." Greg nodded at Sherlock and led him to the dug up grave of one Colonel Shaw. Sherlock passed Molly latex gloves and they both slipped them on before peering into the hole. Inside the grave there was a headless body in a sitting position on top of the casket of Colonel Shaw. From where she was standing Molly estimated it was probably at the very least a few months old. The skin was pink and fleshy and mostly clung to the body, though some parts looked about ready to slough off. Sherlock walked around the grave, never once looking away from the body, and Molly could almost see the gears turning in his head as he committed everything to memory.

"Help me pull it out." He spoke after a full rotation of the grave. Molly and Sherlock both climbed into the grave and Greg had two officers wait at the edge to haul it up the rest of the way. From inside the grave Molly could see that there was a hole in the top of the cast iron casket and that the torso and butt of the victim had fallen through. Sherlock and Molly each grabbed a spot under one of the arms and on the count of three they hoisted the body up. They had trouble removing the body from the hole in the coffin at first, but they were finally able to lift it up from the casket and to the hands of the waiting officers after a few minutes.

Molly heard the officers set the body on the ground, and from where she was inside the grave she could hear at least one of the officers puking. "Amateurs" Sherlock complained not too quietly. He squatted and traced his finger along the edge of the hole in the coffin. "The coffin is made of cast iron, they shattered this hole into it, most likely with a sledgehammer.

Sherlock took out his tiny magnifying glass and Molly watched as he leaned his head into the hole to look around. "Anything in there?" Molly asked after a moment and Sherlock pulled his head back out.

"No. Just a layer of goo."

"Goo?"

"Yes, it's to be expected. The colonel's body has been buried for over a century. That's long enough that it would have completely broken down. Even the bones would have deteriorated by now, leaving the layer of goo I see inside the coffin." Sherlock explained at a lightening fast pace, "Here. I'll lift you up and then I'll follow you out." He motioned upwards and Molly nodded.

Molly jumped and caught hold of the grass on the edge of the hole and Sherlock pushed her up the rest of the way.

Sherlock easily climbed out of the grave and leaned down to inspect the body at a closer range. Now that she was closer Molly could see she had been right. The skin on the hands and feet was starting to slough off, but there was still pink flesh clinging to the bones on the rest of the body. Whoever it was had been wearing a very nice tuxedo when they were killed.

"I would estimate that the body is between two months to a year old. But a year is most likely too long. Judging by the apparel I would guess it was probably someone with a high standing in the community. It's potentially a serial killer. Serial killers like to keep mementos of their victims, that could be where the head is and why they would choose to dispose of the body alone. Most likely they had it stored somewhere in their house and the smell started to get overwhelming so they had to find a new place to dump it."

Greg nodded and motioned for the officers he was with to bag the body and bring it to the morgue. "Thanks Sherlock, it's appreciated like always."

"I would try not to let the public know there's potentially a serial killer running around London again. You know how well they take that news."

"I'm well aware of that, thank you." Lestrade commented and walked over to the other officers who were working the crime scene now.

"So you think there's a serial killer?" Molly asked as she tried to match Sherlock's large strides.

"Most likely, though not a very good one. He already made a big mistake , it's only a matter of time until he slips up again."

"But until then we just have to wait for him to kill again."

"Have a little faith Molly, we're on the case. We'll try our hardest to make sure that doesn't happen." He gave her a kind smile to reassure her.

"Thanks for having me help you with the case, I'm sure John would have been the ideal partner. But I appreciate it all the same."

"You're a perfectly adequate partner." Molly knew that was a high compliment from Sherlock, even if it sounded only slightly complimentary. "Plus, you were available and that's the number one quality I need in a partner."

"John will be available again soon." Molly comforted. She took in the sad look that passed across Sherlock's face before he hid it again. She knew he was having a hard time dealing with losing John to Mary. "You're his best friend. To be honest he's probably counting down the minutes until he gets to spend time with you and get away from Mary and the baby for a while."

Sherlock nodded and flagged a cab down again. "I'm sure you're right." He didn't sound convinced. "Want to grab some dinner?" Sherlock asked as her stomach grumbled.

Between talking to Jim all morning and then running out the door to help Sherlock on the case she had forgotten to eat anything all day. Her stomach was about ready to take revenge on her if she didn't say yes. "Sure, why not?" She nodded and thanked Sherlock as he held the taxi door open for her. He once again gave directions to the driver and then told Molly where they were going.

"I know a good sandwich place. I helped the owner get off on a robbery charge one time. It turns out he had a twin brother he didn't know about and his brother was a bank robber. So we can eat for free."

"That's handy" Molly laughed, "I don't get perks like that at my job. All the people I see are already dead." Her attempt at a joke fell flat and Sherlock just gave her an awkward nod in response.

The sandwich shop was a really cute small cafe style restaurant with the sandwiches written on a chalk board behind the counter. The man behind the counter smiled broadly as Sherlock walked in. "Sherlock! It's nice to see you again."

"Hello Donny" Sherlock nodded in hello. "This is Molly Hooper."

"Hi" Molly greeted him with a friendly wave.

"Is this your girlfriend?" Donny asked Sherlock with a knowing smile.

"No, this is my business associate."

"A better way to phrase that being that I'm his friend." Molly rolled her eyes, "Nice to meet you."

Donny laughed and nodded. "Well, whatever you want is on the house. Just let me know." Molly studied the menu and kept coming back to a sandwich called the pepperoni panini. It had pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, black olives and pesto sauce on buttered foccacia bread.

"I'm going to have to try that pepperoni panini." Molly ordered after Sherlock ordered a french onion grilled cheese sandwich. They sat at a table near the window after Donny told them he'd bring their meal to them.

After both of them took turns going to the bathroom to wash up before they ate, they settled into an easy conversation.

"So how has everything been going. Did you ever finish those tests you wanted with the fingerprints?"

Sherlock perked up instantly as she asked him that. "Yes, it turns out that even if the skin is very dry if you rehydrate it enough you can still pull fingerprints from it. You just have to slip the skin over your own finger like a glove." Sherlock explained excitedly. "So long as the fingerprints aren't eaten away by wildlife or deteriorated by weather conditions you can pretty much always still get fingerprints. I'm working on a blog post about it now."

"That's good. That could end up being helpful to all kinds of investigations. I'm sure Greg would love to hear about it."

"He can read the post once I write it." Sherlock nodded, "It'll be inclusive of all of the fine details." Sherlock took a drink of his water and set it back down in the exact same spot. "How has everything been going for you?"

"Good, everything has been great." Molly smiled. "Work is good like always. And I don't really have any other complaints either."

"Still dating the same person?"

Molly nodded, "Yep, still going strong." She forced herself to remain calm. Any time her relationship came up around Sherlock she felt more and more guilty. She really wanted to just be honest with him, and with everyone for that matter, but she knew he would lose it.

"Mrs. Hudson wanted me to remind you that you're welcome to bring him to our annual Christmas get together."

"That's sweet of her, but I'm almost positive he won't be able to make it."

"Good, I would rather you come alone. I don't really like having random people join us, it's always awkward." Sensing that wasn't a good answer he seemed to backtrack. "Why won't he be able to come?"

"He'll probably be out of town. He travels a lot." Molly knew that wasn't actually true. Jim had already promised her he would be there to spend Christmas with her after she had confessed that she was constantly spending Christmas alone.

"On Christmas?"

"That's life as a corporate slave I guess." Molly came up with a half assed excuse that Sherlock seemed to accept.

Donny brought them their sandwiches and Molly had to close her eyes after her first bite. She just wanted to savor every little taste of it. It was probably the best sandwich she had ever had in her life. When she opened her eyes Sherlock was staring at her as if she had transformed into an alien.

"Oh my god, that's amazing."

"Yes, they're quite good." Sherlock agreed. "Fortunately it was his less talented brother who robbed banks and not Donny."

"Thank goodness." She agreed before focusing her attention back to her sandwich. The rest of the meal they ate in a comfortable silence. "I think I'm going to grab one to take home for J-" Molly froze before she finished Jim's name "Sorry for Jameson. That's my boyfriend's name."

She was sure Sherlock thought she was insane today but he just nodded. "I'm sure Donny won't mind."

"Oh, I can pay for the one I'm taking home. I don't expect it to be free."

Sherlock finished his sandwich and rested his napkin on his plate. Donny came over and collected their plates and Molly showered him with compliments on the sandwich. "Can I actually order another pepperoni panini to go?"

"Of course." He thanked her and left to go make her sandwich. He brought the sandwich over to her, wrapped in a cute little package, and set it in front of her.

"How much do I owe you?" She reached for her pocket and Donny held up his hand.

"Don't be crazy, it's on me. Thank you for stopping in, it was good meeting you. And it was good seeing you again Sherlock."

"Thank you for the sandwiches, we're grateful." Molly answered first and Sherlock agreed. "I'm sure you'll be seeing me again." Molly joked.

"Great, be sure to tell your friends about us." Donny waved as they walked out of the sandwich shop.

Molly flagged her own taxi this time and as it pulled up she turned to Sherlock. "Thanks again, for inviting me to help on the case today. If you need my help again just let me know. You know when I work at the morgue for the most part."

"Absolutely, I'll stay in touch. Invite Jameson to the Christmas party. Mrs. Hudson would be thrilled if there was a new man around for her to flirt with."

"I'll do that." Molly laughed. She got into the cab and Sherlock closed the door behind her before going to hail his own ride home. Molly pulled out her phone and texted Jim.  **"I got you a sandwich, heading home now."**

Her phone chimed in response after a moment and she smiled down at his response.  _"I don't know if I'm more excited to see you or some food. I think you have more food for Toby here than you do for yourself. - JM"_

" **Don't judge me. Toby is important. I'll see you in a few minutes. Xoxo."** Her stomach twisted nervously about putting the xoxo on the end of her text. She had never sent him anything that lovey dovey and she didn't know how he'd feel about it.

" _I look forward to it love. I need to leave soon, so I'll have to eat the sandwich and run. - JM"_

Molly closed out her text screen and paid the driver as he dropped her off at her flat. When she walked in, Jim was standing in her kitchen area wearing a charcoal grey suit with a cream colored button up and a charcoal colored tie with a fancy tie pin. She always felt so ridiculously unfashionable compared to the way he dressed. She would never be able to dress as nice as he did, even if she tried. And she didn't try very hard anyways, she preferred dressing for comfort.

She brought him the sandwich and set it on the counter in front of him, giggling as he ignored the sandwich and brought her into his arms. His arms were strong around her waist and she smiled up at him. "How was your case?" He asked her.

"Interesting. They found a body sitting on top of an old army colonel's grave. It looks like the head has been ripped off."

"Just another day at the office then." He laughed and kissed her. He let her go and reached over for the sandwich.

"Wait until you try that, it's incredible."

"What is it?" he asked before taking a bite.

"It's a pepperoni panini." Molly bit her lip as she waited for him to say whether or not he liked it.

"That's a really great sandwich." He made a face as if he was impressed and took another large bite. "You're an angel."

Molly rolled her eyes but couldn't help a grin from spreading across her face. He polished off the sandwich quickly and checked his phone. "I need to be going, I have that meeting I told you about." He threw the paper from the sandwich in her garbage can. I'll be home late. Do you want me to come over?"

"Yes, please. Just try not to wake me up if it's too late?" Molly asked. She preferred when he stayed at her house. It made her feel more comfortable knowing he was there, and she slept better when he was with her. Her bed felt lonely and empty without him, as much as she hated to admit it.

"Okay, have a good night." He kissed her goodbye and pocketed his cell phone.

"Good luck at your meeting."

Jim cast her a knowing look and clicked his tongue at her. "How many times do I have to tell you not to worry? I'll be fine. I make my own luck darling." Molly sighed but nodded, choosing to believe him. He closed the door and Molly locked it behind him.

"Well Toby, it looks like it's just me and you tonight." Molly picked her cat up off the ground and kissed the top of his head. Toby purred and rubbed his head against her chin and she walked over to the couch, settling onto it and letting Toby curl up in her lap. At least with Jim gone she could catch up on Glee without him teasing her about it.

* * *

James Moriarty was standing in the middle of an abandoned warehouse. It was dark and smelled faintly of mold, and across from him were two men. One was an older man, most likely in his late forties. The other looked to be in his early twenties. Jim met the older of the two men's eyes and said nothing. He was genuinely enjoying watching the man fidget under his ice cold gaze.

"Sir-" the man started to speak but was silenced with a dramatic wave of Jim's hand.

"Do you have what I hired you to get me?" Jim spoke slowly, as if talking to children. Of course, Jim knew the answer already. And even if he hadn't known, it would have been obvious by the way the men were acting. Judging by the suitcase resting behind them they had gotten the relics he requested. However their nervous shifting indicated something had gone wrong along the way.

"We do." the older man, William by name, nodded quickly. "But we ran into some trouble."

Jim raised his eyebrows and gave them a concerned look. "You ran into some trouble?" His voice was soft, gentle even. He made sure he sounded worried about them the way a mother would worry about her unintelligent moron of a child.

The two men glanced at each other and then back at Jim, both of them looking confused. He could almost see their thoughts as if they were flashing above their heads in neon. Ordinary people were adorable how easy they were to manipulate. They were both thinking ' _maybe the stories aren't true. He doesn't seem very scary.'_ He watched as even their posture relaxed.

Morons. It was pathetically easy playing his games with people of this intelligence level. But he was enjoying himself all the same, and he couldn't wait to destroy them.

"We got the items you wanted, we made sure of that." William spoke more confidently now. "We grabbed them, but we had to leave as soon as we did. We thought we heard someone coming, maybe police or a guard, so we left the body in the grave and fled. We didn't get to rebury it like you asked."

"So you just left the body in an open grave for anyone to see?" Jim asked in a deceptively mild voice.

"We had to sir. We decided it was better to get what we came for and leave. We didn't want to risk getting caught and not getting you the items at all." The younger one, George, spoke this time.

"Oh, I see. So you two make the important decisions now?" Jim grinned his cheshire cat smile and clapped his hands together. "Here I thought  _I_ was the one in charge. Silly me." He laughed and hit his head as if he was stupid.

"No sir-" the young man tried desperately to backtrack but William cut him off this time.

"-You  _are_  in charge sir, absolutely. We just wanted to make sure you got the items. We didn't want to risk you not receiving them."

"Can I see them?" Jim motioned to the suitcase and both men nodded immediately.

"Of course." William grabbed the suitcase and knelt down on one knee to unzip it.

"I'll take it." Jim ordered and William tensed up at his tone.

"Absolutely sir." He nodded and slid the case over to Jim's feet. Jim reached into the case and pulled out a golden pocket watch first. Smaller then his palm, it's body was covered in filigree decorations. He slid the watch into his pocket and reached in for the second item.

The small dagger glinted in the light from the overhead fixtures as he pulled it from the case. The solid gold hilt was encrusted with diamonds and rubies and sculpted into an ornate design.

The dagger was the prize piece of the two. He already had a buyer lined up to pay twenty five million quid for it. Jim stood up and eyed the dagger. In the blink of an eye he threw the dagger, watching as it buried itself deep in William's chest.

William stared at Jim with wide eyes before looking down and feeling the dagger protruding from his chest, not believing it was real. George was watching from beside him in frozen horror and once William sank to his knees George started screaming.

"What did you do?" He turned to face Jim with wide eyes and then grabbed at the older man's shoulder's. "Dad, hold on, it'll be okay." His voice was panicked and squeaky.

"Oh, it's certainly not going to be okay. I'd give him maybe a minute. That dagger is in his heart. It's only a matter of seconds now." Jim taunted, a cold smile plastered on his face. Jim walked over and pushed the man over with one little nudge of his dress shoes, placing a foot on the older man's throat. William looked up at him with glassy, half dead eyes. "You cost me twenty five million quid." Jim snarled down at him, pushing his foot harder against his throat to stop the wet gurgling breaths the man was taking.

"We got you the items!" George sobbed, "We got you what you wanted!"

"The police discovered the mess you left behind. Sherlock Holmes is already on the case.  _These-_ " Jim motioned to the dagger in George's father's chest and held up the pocket watch, "These are worthless now. Everyone in England will soon know they've been stolen. Meaning I can't sell them. Had you two idiots followed my plan you might have walked out of here alive. Possibly." He shrugged.

The boy was crying and still kneeling beside his dad. "You killed my dad." He kept repeating the words as if he had lost his mind.

"Yes, well you and your dad should have been better at what you do. I don't appreciate when people ruin my hard work and plans. And I like it even less when people cost me money."

George didn't speak. Instead he lunged up at Jim and wrapped his fingers around his throat. "Bad choice kiddo." Jim rasped out with a grin as the wide eyed young man tried to choke him. George was about to speak when a red laser appeared on the side of his head and he dropped to the ground beside his dad.

"Good job Sebastian." Jim called out into the black abyss that was the upper floor of the warehouse. "I thought you were going to let him kill me for a second there." Jim laughed. "Call the boys to come take care of this mess."

Jim could hear Sebastian's footsteps as he thundered down the metal steps to meet Jim. As Jim watched the sniper come into view an idea popped into his head and he held up his hand to stop Sebastian from pressing the call button. "Tell them in two days I need these idiots delivered to Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade with a nice little note wishing him a Merry Christmas. It should only take Sherlock a day to figure out who the body really is. We'll give these idiots over to the police on a silver platter once he does."

Sebastian made the call and relayed what Jim had told him. Once he hung up he raised his eyebrows at Jim curiously. "If I'm allowed to ask, why would you do that exactly?"

Jim put on gloves and wiped down the pocket watch with a dark grey cloth before pressing some of George's fingerprints onto it and placing it in his trouser pockets. "Let's just blame it on Christmas spirit. That way he can wrap the case up and call it a day."

"Won't he have to investigate who killed them?"

"Not once you're done staging the two bodies into an obvious murder suicide." Jim kicked George's body for emphasis. "His dad came after him. He wanted all of the money for himself, so George had to stab him with the stolen blade. Of course, George's sentimental heart got the better of him and he couldn't live with what he had done, so he had to blow his brains out." Jim pouted and pretended to be heart broken by the story. "You know what to do."

Sebastian nodded and got to work. First he had to fish out the bullet from the young man's head. It would be awfully hard to commit suicide with a sniper rifle. Taking out a handgun he placed it in the man's right hand and pressed the barrel to the spot the other bullet had entered his skull through. Holding the dead boy's hand over the gun Sebastian pulled the trigger, leaving a larger entry wound that should erase any evidence he had been previously shot.

"Give me that cloth." Sebastian held his gloved hand out and Jim passed him the cloth he had used to clean the watch. Sebastian wiped down the handle of the dagger and passed it back to Jim. "There, no note needed." Sebastian announced with a laugh once he was done. The bodies spoke for themselves, it would be easy enough to rule it a murder-suicide after a grave robbing gone wrong.

Of course Lestrade would know something wasn't right when the bodies were delivered to his doorstep, but with no evidence he'd be forced to let it go.

"Good work." Jim complimented him, "Let's get out of here." He snapped his fingers, meaning for Sebastian to follow him back out to the car that was waiting for them.

"That should hold up well enough." Sebastian commented once the driver pulled away from the warehouse.

"Oh, it'll work." Jim was visibly excited. He may have lost a lot of money today, but at least he had gotten to have fun after all. "I'm going to head back to Molly's, just let Darren know where you need to be dropped off."

"I'm going to head over to Cordelia's place." Sebastian smirked, "Turns out, she's a freak when you get her alone. She wants to have a strictly sexual relationship. She gave me a whole speech about how she's too busy for a relationship and the second she saw I was catching any kind of feelings she would be forced to end things." The two men laughed at the prospect.

"Whatever makes her happy." Jim rolled his eyes, "As if you would ever be in a relationship."

Sebastian snorted and shook his head at the prospect. "I'm in a relationship with my work, and that's all I need. But I won't be passing up a free offer for sex."

"If you did I'd have to get your head checked. I'd be worried you were turning into a prude like Sherlock Holmes." The driver pulled up to Molly's flat and Jim wished Sebastian good luck with the doctor.

It was well past two in the morning so Jim knew Molly would be fast asleep already. He locked the door behind him and made his way into the dark bedroom. He stripped his suit off in the dark and folded it neatly, setting it on her dresser. He walked to his side of the bed and slipped his handgun under his pillow, like he always did, before climbing into bed next to her.

He heard her tiny moan as she sensed the movement next to her and she lifted her head, blinking at him through tired eyes. "Hi." She smiled and moved so she was curled up against him with his arm around her and her head buried into the crook of his neck.

"Hi." He answered in a whisper.

"I'm glad you're home safe." She mumbled against his neck.

"I always am." He ran his free hand through her long brown hair, helping to lull her back to sleep. "Goodnight Molls."

"Night, love you." The words were barely audible and he was almost positive she was most of the way asleep, but they caught him off guard. He had never heard anyone say those words to him. Not in his entire life. They felt so foreign to his ears.

He felt Molly stiffen under his touch and she looked up at him with wide eyes. "I… I  _so_  didn't mean to say that I swear." He could tell her face was blushing scarlet even in the darkness.

Jim laughed and brought her lips to his. "We'll chalk it up to you being half asleep."

Molly groaned and hid her face in his neck again. "It was totally me being close to all the way asleep again. I'm so sorry."

"Go to sleep Molly." Jim couldn't keep the laughter from his voice as he tried to calm her down again. "I know you didn't mean it." He meant that, because he was almost positive that nobody could really love him. Not even Molly. As much as he knew she cared about him, deep down he knew he was truly unlovable.


	9. Chapter 9

Molly walked into the small cafe and searched the crowd for her friend's familiar face. She finally caught a flash of Cordelia's dark curls and made her way over to the small table. "Hi!" Cordelia stood up and hugged her before the two girls sat down. "I was starting to think you had stood me up." Cordelia laughed and took a sip of her water.

"Ugh, traffic was awful. I'm so sorry." Molly folded her napkin across her lap. "I was running late as it was. You know how it goes." She finished with a shrug.

"Unfortunately I do." She agreed, "Any particular reason you were late?" Cordelia bit her lip and held in a laugh at Molly's expense as she turned red. Molly opened her mouth to talk and instead shook her head at her. "Oh shut up." Molly finally sputtered out with a nervous giggle.

Cordelia was about to say something when their waiter made his way to the table and took their orders. "I take it you and Jim are still going strong then?"

Molly nodded and shrugged. "Yeah, I'm a total idiot though. I almost ruined everything."

Cordelia's brow knit in worry, "Why? What happened?"

"I was half asleep last night and I said the 'L' word." It felt good to get it out to Cordelia, she had been holding in last night's anxiety all morning. Jim hadn't seemed affected by it, but either way she was embarrassed.

""Oof, did he say it back?" Cordelia grimaced.

"No, but I took it back right away anyways. I was half asleep, it just slipped out. I hadn't meant to say it."

"But did you mean it?"

"I don't know, maybe?" Molly answered honestly. "I think I might be. But I've never told anyone that before."

"You've never told anyone?" Cordelia looked shocked. "What about Tom? Surely you told him you loved him, after all he was your fiancée."

"I know, but it never felt right. I… I just figured it would happen in time."

"If you do love Jim, why not just tell him?" Cordelia looked confused, "I know you said you don't know, but it kind of sounds like you do."

"No, I genuinely don't know. I think I do, but it's hard for me to really commit myself to feelings like that. Especially because I have no idea what he's feeling in return. I know he cares about me. But I can't read him, and he's not the type of guy who's really open about his feelings like that."

"Well, if my opinion counts for anything, I would say he seems very into you. I know you had a fight at the bar, but the way he acted around you… just the way he looked at you when you weren't paying attention spoke volumes."

"Really?" Molly felt her heart race as she considered that. Cordelia nodded and smiled broadly, "He likes you a lot Molly."

"I don't know. I'll… I'll have to think about it. I know last night wasn't the right time regardless."

"Clearly your subconscious didn't agree." Cordelia teased causing Molly to make a face at her.

"How about you? I hear you've been seeing Sebastian still." Molly grinned as Cordelia's face lit up. Jim had mentioned to her this morning that Sebastian went to Cordelia's flat last night.

"Yeah. I told him we could be friends with benefits but nothing more." Cordelia bit her lip. "I even warned him he wasn't allowed to get any real feelings for me or I'd have to break it off."

Molly held in a laugh as she considered that conversation. The fact that her friend had told Sebastian Moran that  _he_  wasn't allowed to fall for her was probably the funniest conversation she could imagine. Jim hadn't mentioned that part to her. She couldn't help but wonder if he knew, though she was sure he did.

"Good for you." Molly finally replied. "So I'm assuming he wasn't disappointing then?"

Cordelia shot her a wide eyes look and grinned. "Oh my god Molly." She gestured with her hands to show how big he was and Molly choked on her water. "Cordelia!" Molly smacked her friend's hands down and the two girls erupted into a fit of giggles.

"That was far more information than I needed to know." Molly shook her head as she tried to stop laughing.

"I had to share it with someone." Cordelia laughed even harder. "Seriously Molly, I don't know where he hides it in those tight pants of his."

"Stop it!" Molly covered her face to hide how red she was getting. "You're terrible."

"Fine, I'm sorry." The two finally slowed down their laughter. "We'll just say he's very skilled. How about that?"

"That's fine. I'm glad you two settled on your friends with benefits arrangement."

"Yeah, me too. Some guys just can't handle that you know?"

"I wouldn't know. I've never even tried to be in a relationship like that."

"Is Jim good in bed?" Cordelia thanked the waiter as he set their food in front of them and Molly was glad for the interruption. Cordelia could clearly read how awkward Molly felt having to address that. "It's just me Molly, I'm not going to tell anyone." Cordelia assured her.

"I know, I trust you. I'm just not used to talking about stuff like that." A nervous laugh escaped her lips. "But yes, he's very good in bed." Molly sighed and allowed a grin to spread across her lips. "He's amazing really."

"That's my girl. Looks like we both hit the jackpot."

"I suppose we did." Molly laughed and ate a spoonful of her french onion soup.

"Is Jim spending Christmas with you?"

"Yeah, he promised he'd spend Christmas day with me. Christmas eve I always go to Sherlock's though because his landlady always hosts a christmas party for all of us. We're kind of like one big family in a weird way."

"That's cute. Jim won't be going then? I remember you saying Sherlock doesn't like him."

"No, Jim won't be going. It'll be better if I go alone, less hassle all around."

"Understandable. Don't let Sherlock make any moves on you. I get the distinct feeling Jim wouldn't be the type to be okay with some other guy hitting on his girlfriend."

Molly hesitated, unsure of what to say in response. Cordelia had no idea how right she probably was about that. "No, I doubt he would be okay with that." She nodded, "But I honestly don't think that's something I have to worry about."

"Maybe you're right, who really knows. Sherlock is a bit of an odd one." Cordelia held her hands up after she said it, probably worried Molly would get mad at her. "Not in a bad way, he's just impossible to read."

"He is pretty impossible to read… and even to deal with sometimes. He's really good person, but he just has a hard time dealing with people sometimes."

Cordelia nodded, considering that. "I guess that's the side effect of being smarter than everyone else in the room."

Molly shrugged in response and polished off her soup. Checking her phone she made a face and apologized to Cordelia. "My shift starts in twenty minutes, I need to run."

"No need to apologize. I work a late shift tonight so maybe I'll see you at work?"

"I should be out be seven or eight tonight, so I'm not sure."

"Any plans with Jim tonight?"

"Just a nice relaxing night at my flat." Molly smiled at the thought. Nights in where her and Jim just spent time together were her favorite things. She honestly didn't even mind if they just cuddled up on the couch and watched a movie. It didn't really matter to her what they did, as long as she got to spend time with Jim.

"Aw, well have a good one."

"I will. How about you, having your friend with benefits over tonight?" Molly waved down the waiter and gave him her card to cover her half of the meal.

"You bet. The best thing is he seems like a total night owl, so he doesn't mind coming over in the middle of the night when I get off work."

The waiter brought back her card and Molly stuffed it back into her wallet and stood up. "Well I hope you have a good night too, tell Seb I said hi." Cordelia assured Molly she would and gave her a quick hug. "See you tonight maybe." Molly waved as she left the cafe and headed to St. Bart's.

* * *

"Molly Hooper, Christmas has come early!" Molly was in the middle of doing a post mortem when Sherlock burst into the morgue. His deep baritone broke the silence and nearly made her jump out of her skin. She looked up at Sherlock and then back down at Alfred, the body she had been working on.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack." Molly scolded him. "What are you talking about?"

"They found the head. Lestrade is going to have it here any minute now. It was in the coffin after all, I just couldn't see it."

"What does that mean, the killer stuffed the head in first and then tried to bury the body?"

"Perhaps, I'll need to study the head once it gets here." Sherlock looked down at Alfred and sighed. "Are you almost done with this? He was stabbed with a needle point blade, quite obvious really."

Molly rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Thank you, I'm well aware he was stabbed. However, it's still my job to conduct a full post mortem and write a report up. And yes, I'm almost done."

"Good, I'll wait over here for Lestrade." Sherlock said as he walked over to an empty autopsy table. Molly spared him a glance before turning her attention back to Alfred. She was able to finish her inspection of him by the time Greg showed up.

"Let me see it." Sherlock's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Okay, but it's a bit different from the rest of the body." Greg warned them as he pulled the head out of the case he had it in. Molly grimaced as she took in the dark brown rotting skull.

"That can't be the head from the body we found. It's in a far more advanced state of decomposition." Molly met Greg's eyes and he shrugged.

"We found it in the coffin, it has to be the head."

"Quiet." Sherlock held up a hand to silence the two of them. "Oh, no no no." His eyes widened and he leaned in to inspect it more closely. He slipped on gloves and opened the mouth inspecting the teeth. "Oh, no." He complained and let the mouth fall shut again. "This skull has a mouthful of cavities that have never been treated. If he was a member of high society he would have surely been able to get dental work done."

Molly and Greg glanced at each other, both aware he was thinking aloud and not actually addressing either one of them. Sherlock spun and pounded his fist on the table. "How did I miss it?!" he yelled, making Molly jump for the second time this evening.

"Miss what?" Molly asked him gently. Lestrade crossed his arms over his chest and waited for Sherlock to answer.

"The coffin was cast iron, of course." Sherlock ignored both of them, his eyes flaring up again as he put the pieces together. "How did I miss it?" this time it was more of a statement than a question. "The head we are looking at is none other than the head of one Colonel Shaw."

Greg's mouth dropped open and he shook his head, "That's not possible. You said at the crime scene that his body would have been totally decomposed by now."

"Sherlock, how can that possibly be Colonel Shaw?" Molly asked.

Turning to her Sherlock grinned as he explained. "The coffin was cast iron. It was completely sealed until grave robbers smashed the hole into the top of it. The hole we both observed. Until that point the body had been completely sealed inside an airtight cast iron coffin which delayed the process of decomposition." Sherlock laughed.

Gesturing wildly with his hands, Sherlock laughed. "The coffin kept bugs out. So the bugs and other factors that cause decomposition were held at bay until the the hole was smashed into it. That's why the body looked so fleshy and pink, it was in the very early stages of decomp. However, the head got left behind and bugs and weather conditions set to work on it, which caused it to look like a much later state of decomposition. The decomposition was essentially fast forwarded in the case of the head."

"So you mean to tell me it's not a homicide investigation at all? Just a case of grave robbery?  _And_  you misjudged the time of death by over one hundred and fifty years?" Molly could tell Greg enjoyed pointing that last bit out and she held down a small giggle.

"Yes, well, I didn't have all of the facts did I?" Sherlock defended himself, "Either way I solved the case. Was the colonel buried with anything special?"

"I'm not sure." Greg replied, "I guess I had better go do some research."

"I suppose you should, I'm quite certain you'll find he was buried with at least one important relic. Find the relic and trace it back to the thieves and it should be an open and shut case."

"Thanks for your help." Greg shook his head in disbelief, "Good to know it's not a serial killer after all."

"That's for sure." Molly agreed with a smile.

"I have research to do and a report to write, I'll see the both of you at the Christmas party."

"See you then." Molly agreed as he left.

"Can you believe it Molly." Sherlock was all smiles. " _I_  was almost fooled by a simple case."

"But you weren't." Molly smiled in return, "You always seem to figure it out in the end. I've seen it so many times and it still shocks me."

"Yes, you and John both." Sherlock grinned, "I'll leave you to your work. Thanks for your help on the case."

"You're welcome, it was my pleasure. I'll see you at the Christmas party."

"Did you ask Jameson?"

"Yeah, he won't be in town for Christmas. It's just going to be me."

"Have a good night Molly." Sherlock hesitated like he wanted to say something else but instead left the morgue. She wished Jim could come to the Christmas party, she wanted him there. Things would be a hell of a lot easier if her boyfriend wasn't the arch enemy of every single one of the people she cared about. She was tempted to just tell everyone the truth. But every time she considered it all she could think of was all of the bad things that could come of it.

Her friends would attempt to make it impossible for her to see him. She wouldn't put it past any of them to have her followed and have someone watching at her apartment for him at all times so he couldn't see her without being arrested. Ultimately the risk wasn't worth it. She would do whatever she had to in order to protect her relationship and more importantly to protect Jim. In the end, that was far more important than being able to bring him around to Christmas parties.

* * *

"Jim? Are you here?" Molly set her purse on the kitchen countertop. Hearing no answer she went to look for him. The lights were turned on, and she knew  _she_  hadn't left them on. So he had to be here somewhere. She slowly opened her bedroom door, a sudden uneasiness creeping up on her. What if he wasn't here, but someone else was.

He always seemed awfully worried that something could happen to her. Had she been stupid to refuse to believe it? She poked her head in and sighed when she saw him lying on her bed with headphones on and typing away on his computer. She pushed the door open the rest of the way and stood with her arms crossed over her chest.

Jim slid the headphones down to his neck and gave her a questioning look. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"You jerk. I called out to see if you were here and you didn't answer. I was worried someone could have possibly broken into my apartment or something."

"So you decided to keep on poking around to find them?" He made a face and shook his head at her. "The decisions you make worry me sometimes."

"Oh shut up." Molly sighed and made her way over to the bed. She picked his computer up and set it far away from him on her dresser. "Molly I'm working." He protested at first and then shut up when she climbed on top of him so she was straddling him. Grabbing his headphones she pulled them over his head and set them and his iPod on her nightstand.

"Can I ask you something?" Molly looked down at him. The question had been running through her head since Sherlock figured out who's body was really in the grave. When Jim nodded she continued. "That body the police found. Was that you?"

"Dear, you're going to have to be a bit more specific here."

"The case I helped Sherlock on, with the body that was found in an army colonel's grave. It turns out it wasn't a mystery body at all. It was the army colonel's body. It had just been preserved by the cast iron coffin apparently. Was it you that hired the grave robbers?"

Jim made a face and let out a deep breath. "Yes, that was me. Well… I had a much better plan laid out, but let's just say the two men I hired weren't as professional as I had been led to believe."

Molly nodded and considered that. "I'm assuming they won't be working anymore?"

"I have a feeling they'll turn up rather soon for your friend Greg." Jim agreed. "Why the sudden interest in my work? I thought you never wanted to hear about it."

"I guess I'm just trying to accept it more. I care about you. I know that doesn't mean I have to accept everything you do, but I don't like that I told you to hide everything from me either."

"So you're at a crossroads?" Jim nodded, "Half of you wants to pretend I'm not a criminal and that I'm just the Jim you get to see. But the other half of you feels like you're forcing me to hide myself from you."

Molly bit her lip and nodded. "I don't want you to have to hide from me. So if you ever do want to talk to me, even about your work. You can. Just keep the gory details to a minimum maybe."

Jim pulled Molly down so she was lying next to him, and guided her face gently with his hand so her eyes met his. "I don't hide from you Molly. And you don't need to listen to all of the things I do on a daily basis in order to be a good girlfriend. Truthfully, I don't feel the need to talk to you about work. I work all day every day, when I'm with you it's a nice reprieve." He searched her face for a reaction, "Okay?"

Molly nodded and let him close the gap between them and kiss her. "You're the best reprieve from work I can imagine." He mumbled against her lips, sending a small thrill through her. He deepened the kiss, his hands tangling in her hair and holding them together. He only broke away from her when he felt her begin to cry. "I'm sorry." Molly covered her face with her hands and wiped away her tears.

"Why are you crying?" He asked softly, using his thumb to wipe away a stray tear.

"Last night when I told you I loved you I meant it." Molly confessed. She had planned on trying to forget about it after her conversation with Cordelia at lunch. But here, lying in bed with him, she knew it was true and it felt awful holding it in.

Jim pulled her head into his chest and held her. He was at a loss for words for one of the first times in his life. "Molly, you don't love me. I know you care about me, a lot, but you don't love me."

Molly pulled away from him and sat up, crossing her legs indian style so she could look at him. "No, I do love you. And I've never told anyone that. I've never felt like this before. It's terrifying, and I can't be in this alone. I need you to know how I feel."

"Why?"

"Why do I love you?" She asked him, her voice rising slightly. Jim nodded and when she saw the look of denial in his eyes it dawned on her. It had never even occurred to him that someone could actually love him. "Jim you aren't unlovable. I can see that you think you are, but it's the furthest thing from the truth. You  _can_  be hard to love. You have crazy mood swings, you run a criminal network for a living, and let's be honest you're a total smartass and it pisses me off sometimes."

Molly took a deep breath and fought against the urge to stop talking. She hated expressing her feelings, but it had to be done. "But you're also an absolute gentleman behind that cold exterior. You can make me laugh when all I want is to hide from everyone and wallow in sadness. And I always feel safe with you in a way I've never felt safe with anyone else. You make me feel like you'd do anything to keep me safe. I can see it in your eyes, and in your body language sometimes." She smiled at a memory. "We'll be walking down the street at night and if you hear a noise you instinctively step so you're in front of me. You think I don't notice but I do. And most importantly you make me feel beautiful and loved, even when I'm wearing no makeup and just one of your t-shirts."

Jim smirked and let out a sigh, "That's arguably when you're most beautiful. For the record."

"Oh shut up." Molly shook her head at him but she smiled.

"Come here" Jim motioned for her to come closer to him again, holding her in his arms once she obeyed. "I don't deserve for you to love me."

"Yes you do." Molly countered quickly. "Everyone deserves to be loved, even the devil himself." She knew he was always comparing himself to the devil and her to an angel, so she felt like the comparison worked.

"I love you too." He finally responded. The words sounded strange and abnormal to him. They were words he'd never imagined himself saying. But Molly had changed that in him. He loved her, and he knew now was the time to admit it.

"Good, I was worried you were never going to say it." Molly teased, making light of the conversation as if she knew how uncomfortable it made him. "Come on, let's go watch a movie. It's your turn to pick one." Molly climbed out of bed and pulled his hand to make him follow her.

"Good, I'll make sure to pick one full of explosions and action since you made me watch that bloody awful chick flick the other night."

"Please explain to me how The Lion King is a chick flick. Because you've been saying that for three days now, but you can't seem to back it up." Molly rolled her eyes and made a face at him.

"If you can't see how a movie about singing animated animals is a chick flick on your own, then there's no hope for me explaining it to you love, sorry."

"Oh shut up." Molly laughed and settled on the couch, wrapping a blanket around herself and letting Jim under the covers once he turned on the TV. He pulled up Netflix and went straight to the action movie section. "Look at this. The new James Bond movie is up finally, looks like we have a winner."

"I hate you." Molly joked as he hit play.

"Do you? Do you hate me? Because I'm calling your bluff."

Molly held up her fingers, "Just a little bit." She leaned in and kissed him, smiling against his lips as he instantly held her closer to him. She snuggled into him as he put his arm around her, leaning her head against his chest. She didn't care that he chose an action movie, but she'd never tell him that. All that mattered to her was this. Him holding her while she cuddled up against him. This was what she looked forward to. If the movie was good it was just an added plus.


	10. Chapter 10

Molly awoke to the feeling of Jim kissing her neck ever so softly. She groaned as she woke up and rubbed her eyes, while Jim worked soft kisses up her neck until he reached her lips. "Merry Christmas love." He mumbled against her lips before pulling her into another kiss. She could definitely get used to waking up like this. "Merry Christmas." She answered softly, bringing her hands to her pounding head. "What time is it?"

"Noon. I decided it was unacceptable for you to sleep any longer because I've been waiting impatiently to do that since seven." Jim answered and reached behind him to her nightstand. "Here, I have a feeling you need these." He handed her a bottle of aspirin and a water bottle and Molly couldn't help but grin. "Who knew you were so thoughtful?" she teased.

"Just don't tell anyone, I don't need you ruining my reputation by spreading rumors that I'm too nice."

"I don't think anyone would believe me if I tried."

"How was your party last night?"

"It was okay, I had a good time."

"What did everyone talk about? I don't think I've ever been to a Christmas party in my life. Do you just sit around and make small talk until it's finally time to go home?"

"You know, sometimes it shocks me how antisocial you are. You just talk Jim. Like a normal human being." Molly laughed, "And come to think of it, we talked about you for a good portion of the night."

He raised his eyebrows at her and looked concerned. "Did you tell them you were seeing me?"

"No, of course not." Molly swallowed two of the aspirin and chased them down with a gulp of water. "Greg mentioned your little Christmas present for him."

Jim's eyes lit up instantly and a large smile spread across his lips. "Did he like it?"

"I don't know if like is the correct word. He said it was definitely your handiwork, but that you had covered it up to look like a murder suicide."

"What did Sherlock think of that?"

"Sherlock seemed excited to be honest. He mentioned that he was beginning to think that video was just a hoax Mycroft pulled to keep him in the country. He seemed excited at the prospect that you might actually be alive." Jim nodded. He seemed pleased with her answer.

"Except then everyone got to talking about whether or not they thought your network was still intact. Sherlock thinks he's dismantled your entire network in the two years he was supposed to be dead."

Jim laughed and his dark eyes gleamed with mischief. "He has no idea how large my network is. He dismantled a tiny part of it. A tiny part I've already gotten back up and running by the way."

"I know, I lied for you." Molly admitted, catching Jim off guard completely. "What do you mean you lied for me?"

"Well, not necessarily  _for_ you. But when Mary said she didn't believe it was possible that Sherlock disassembled your network completely, I said I was almost positive he did. I just said there was no way you had your network intact because they would definitely have noticed more crime going on. John even agreed with me. He said you're just desperate to be in the spotlight again while you try to reassemble some semblance of your old network."

"You took my side over your friends." Jim beamed, "I can't believe it."

"I just felt like I had to protect you. Why I don't know, you bring that on yourself with your theatrics."

"Look at you. My naughty Miss Hooper." Jim whispered the words against her ear and bit her earlobe gently. Molly bit her lip and ignored the guilty pit that formed in her stomach as she admitted it to him. She could have just as easily ignored the conversation completely. If anyone had asked why she was silent she easily could have told them she didn't have an opinion and that she tries not to think about him anymore.

But she  _had_  taken his side. It wasn't like it was detrimental to her friends, but when it came down to it she found herself more inclined to protect Jim then to play it neutral or rightfully agree with Mary that he could have his network back. After all, she knew his network was stronger than ever. Not that she would ever tell anyone that though.

"Don't do that." Jim commanded, his tone stern.

"Don't do what?" Molly played innocent, shooting him doe eyes.

"Don't sit there and feel guilty. Guilt is a worthless emotion. Just admit you care about me more than your friends."

"I do care about you more than my friends. But that doesn't mean I can't feel guilty about it."

"Well you shouldn't. Because in reality I care about you more than your friends do."

Molly rolled her eyes, not willing to show how those words made her heart race. She pulled him down to her by the front of his shirt and kissed him roughly. Jim responded eagerly, pulling her shirt over her head in one easy movement. Molly responded by removing his shirt as well and they took turns ripping each other's clothes off until they were both naked.

Jim placed his hands on her hips and rolled onto his back so she was straddling him and she slowly slid down onto his erection, letting him fill every inch of her. Jim sat up, angling himself so he could thrust into her more deeply, and began sucking and biting on her neck while she rode him, slowly at first and picking up speed until he was pounding into her harder and harder.

"You're so beautiful." He knotted his hands in her hair and brought her close to him so he could whisper to her. "I can't believe you're mine." Molly pressed her lips to his in a hungry kiss, their tongues entwining as he pulled her closer, desperate to feel her bare chest against his own. "I'm close" Molly admitted, her voice breathy with pleasure. "Jim moved slower and more purposeful and kissed her once again. "Come for me love." He mumbled against her lips and after a few more deliberate thrusts she let out a long guttural moan as pleasure took over her and she collapsed against him. She felt Jim come as well and his hand knotted in her hair tighter as he did, the pleasure of her orgasm mixing with the pain in a delicious sensation.

"Well, that was the best Christmas morning I've ever had." Molly smiled against his neck as she caught her breath again. Jim untangled his fingers from her hair and combed them through it instead to smooth it.

"Don't say that yet. I still need to give you your gift."

"What you just gave me was a pretty good gift on it's own." Molly giggled and she could practically feel Jim roll his eyes at her. "I can give you that gift every day, multiple times a day dear, and I usually try to." Molly giggled again and moved so she climbed off of him, wrapping her bed sheet around her as the cold of her room nipped at her bare skin.

"I'm going to clean up and then I'll bring you your gift."

"Why don't we clean off together." Molly suggested coyly, enjoying catching him by surprise.

"You are just insatiable" he growled into her ear as he picked her up and carried her into the bathroom over his shoulder. He turned on the hot water and they both climbed in. Molly grabbed the bar of soap and began moving it slowly over him, leaving soapy bubbles in it's wake. She moved her hands over the bubbles slowly to build up more of a lather, savoring the feel of his body as she did.

Once she was done Jim took the soap from her and repeated the process on her, only moving slower than she had. Molly closed her eyes and enjoyed the way his strong fingers explored her body and gasped when he slid his fingers inside of her. He moved his hand expertly against her and Molly leaned forward, bracing herself against him so she wouldn't slip. He used his free hand to tilt her head up so her lips were near his ear. "Let me hear you." His voice was husky with lust and Molly obeyed, letting her small moans escape quietly at first and then louder as he increased the speed of his movements.

She wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight embrace as she came for a second time that morning. Once she released him Jim finished the job of actually cleaning her, and the two of them rinsed off as the water began to get cold. "You're just really working to make this a memorable Christmas aren't you?" Molly laughed and toweled off her hair.

"I'm certainly trying to." He replied, "What would you like to do next?"

"I usually just watch Christmas movies with Toby for the rest of the day." She admitted shyly, "It's lame but it's tradition. I like them." Molly slipped on some comfy pajama pants and one of his t-shirts. She loved wearing his shirts, it had become a habit of hers. He had his own drawer since he stayed over constantly and he made sure to have plenty of t-shirts in it so she could steal them. If he noticed she liked something he always did little things like that for her.

"I'll give you your gift and then we can curl up on the couch and watch movies. If that's your tradition I don't plan on ruining it." Molly wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug and smiled as he held her. After a moment of him holding her, he easily lifted her off the ground and set her on her bed. "Wait here." He grazed his lips against her ear and left the room.

When he came back in he was holding a small rectangular box that was wrapped in shiny silver paper with a red ribbon and bow tied around it. He handed her the box and moved so he was behind her on the bed, pulling her back gently so she'd lean against his chest. "Merry Christmas Molly Hooper." He brushed her hair out of her face and watched as she opened her gift. He couldn't see her face but he felt the way her body tensed as she saw the famous blue box beneath the wrapping paper.

"Jim." Her voice sounded like she was trying to scold him, but it betrayed her excitement far too easily. "Open it Molly." He rolled his eyes. She never seemed to get the hint that money wasn't a problem with him.

Molly opened the box with trembling fingers and felt her breath catch at the sight of the beautiful bracelet inside. It had black onyx beads with a sterling silver toggle clasp, and hanging from the clasp was a charm. But instead of the usual heart charm they always had on Tiffany's jewelry there was an anatomical heart shaped charm that had the Tiffany's name engraved on it.

"Oh my god." Molly covered her mouth with her hand and felt her eyes sting with tears.

"I thought an anatomical heart was a bit more fitting for you." Jim spoke to fill the silence, "Plus it's custom made for you. I didn't want you having the same thing as every other girl, it had to be special for you." Molly turned so she was facing him and set the box beside them on the bed. "Thank you so much." She fumbled for the right words and instead settled on kissing him.

"So do you like it then?" Jim asked her. She hadn't said very much, and he was starting to get worried it was a bit too out there for her taste.

"I love it so much." The words tumbled out of her mouth and the tears she'd been fighting back spilled down her cheeks. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever owned in my entire life."

"I was starting to think you didn't like it." He admitted with a laugh. He picked up the box and took the bracelet out, placing it on her wrist and watching as her whole face lit up while she looked down at it.

"I don't think I've ever loved a gift this much. How did you get them to custom design a charm for you?"

"It wasn't very hard." Jim shrugged, "The right amount of money can make most people do whatever you want. I didn't even have to resort to my more interesting methods of persuasion." He sounded disappointed. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to have fun persuading someone soon." Molly smiled and toyed with the bracelet.

"Let me get your present. It's nowhere near as amazing as this bracelet though." Molly moved off her bed and went to her closet where she had his gift waiting. She handed him the large box and sat down across from him so she could watch his reaction. She had spent a small fortune on his gift, but she wanted to get him something she knew he would love.

Jim looked up and met her eyes as he saw the familiar clothing box. "Molly Hooper I hope you didn't get me what I think you got me."

"Just open it."

He opened the box and she could tell he loved it but that he was angry about how much she had spent. He lifted the rust colored suit jacket out of the box and shook his head while he grinned at her. "I had Sebastian figure out what your measurements were for your other Westwood suits. I saw that suit and knew it was right up your alley."

"It's amazing Mol." He set the jacket back in the box and pulled her roughly to his lap, kissing her hungrily. "You didn't heave to get me something this expensive. I should wring your neck."

"I can afford to splurge on one gift for you. Plus, it honestly seemed perfect for you."

He brought her lips to his again, holding her tightly against him. "I love it, thank you."

"You're welcome." Molly smiled broadly, "And thank you again for the bracelet. I can't stop looking at it."

"Should we go watch some Christmas movies then?" He closed his suit's box back up. "I'm all for upholding your Christmas traditions."

"I think you're just helping me make them better." Molly admitted.

"I aim to please my dear." Jim stood up and stretched, his shirt lifting and showing a thin patch of his toned stomach. Molly hopped off the bed and grabbed a blanket, holding it against her chest as Jim leaned down and kissed her nose. "Come on." He laced his fingers with her free hand and led her into the living room. They settled on the couch with Molly curled up into him, and with Jim wrapping one arm around her protectively.

Molly flipped through the choices on Netflix and settled on A Christmas Story. "It's kind of stupid but it's really funny." She knew she was babbling, but she was always worried Jim would hate her movie choices. After all he did lie and say he loved Glee back in the day, only for her to find out he thought it was the worst show ever.

"Relax, whatever you want to watch is fine." He kissed the top of her head and the two of them turned their attention to the movie. "Jim…" Molly trailed off and looked up, meeting his eyes. She knew he got uncomfortable if she got too lovey-dovey with her feelings. "I just wanted to say thank you again. I think this is the best Christmas I've ever had."

"You're welcome. I think this is the first Christmas I've ever celebrated, so it'll go down as a good one." He made her laugh and she kissed him once more.

"Okay, now let's watch the movie. This one's my favorite." Molly smiled and tried to focus on the movie. Jim smirked and nodded "Okay, no more talking. I hope it's as funny as you said it is."

"It's funny, you'll like it. I'm like forty percent sure."

"With odds like that, what could possibly go wrong?"

Molly smacked his arm and shook her head at him. "Well excuse me, it's hard to pin you down sometimes. You're so changeable." She mimicked the way he always talked about himself and he stared at her with wide eyes.

"My goodness. Who knew you could be so mean?" He feigned hurt and Molly burst out laughing.

"I guess I'm just learning from the best." She heard her phone's text tone go off and stretched to grab it from the coffee table. When she opened the text she felt her stomach clench. "Merry Christmas Molly. I just wanted to text you. I've been thinking about you." She quickly exited out of the text from her ex fiancé Tom before Jim could see it. The last thing she needed was him seeing it and getting jealous.

She almost jumped as it chimed again. "I was hoping maybe we could meet for lunch soon. Just to talk, nothing more. I've changed a lot and I just want to talk to you." She closed it out again and put her phone on silent, tossing it to the chair far away from them.

"What was that about?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Just some Merry Christmas texts. I put it on silent so we can focus on the movie."

Jim seemed to hesitate a moment but nodded, "Okay." He tightened his grip around her, pulling her closer against his chest and Molly allowed herself to relax into him again. She wasn't even going to worry about Tom right now. She'd much rather focus on cuddling with her psychopathic boyfriend while they watched Christmas movies. She could worry about Tom's random texts another day.


	11. Chapter 11

"I was hoping maybe we could meet for lunch soon. Just to talk, nothing more. I've changed a lot and I just want to talk to you." Molly stared down at the text, the words blurring together the more she looked at it. She hadn't talked to Tom in over a year. She couldn't imagine why he'd suddenly need to talk to her now. Even if he had changed, what did it matter?

She had called off their engagement and broken up with him. He wasn't the one for her. She knew that, so she ended it with him. Back then she had thought Sherlock was the one for her. Now she had Jim. She  _knew_  he was the one. Never had she been more sure about anything in here life.

She had just assumed Tom would have moved on by now also. He was cute after all. She'd hoped he'd find someone better suited to who he was. Someone more carefree… and maybe a little more immature if Molly was being honest.

Her finger hesitated over the reply button before she finally sighed and clicked it.  _"Tom, I don't know what you could possibly want to talk about, but I don't think it's a good idea."_ She hit send before she could second guess herself.

It wasn't as if she was worried that if she saw him she'd suddenly have feelings for him. She was more worried Tom would do something immature or stupid in some desperate bid to win her back. He had begged her not to leave him, and she still felt bad that she had broken his heart. It wasn't something she enjoyed doing.

Especially because she had met his parents and they were wonderful people. She missed them most of all. They had become like her real family. Knowing that breaking up with Tom had meant losing them as well is what caused her to hold on for so long.

She felt her stomach knot as her text tone went off and opened it up quickly. "All I'm asking is that we meet to talk. That's all. I promise. It's just lunch."

" _Why? What do you want to talk about?"_

"I've changed a lot Molly. I've grown up since you left me and I've just been wanting to talk to you. You were a part of my life for two years, I just want to be able to talk again."

Molly instantly felt guilty. She knew she had serious walls she put up in relationships. Not everyone could just cut people out of their life the way she had. She took a deep breath and hesitated, not knowing what to answer back.

" _I have a boyfriend Tom. I'll meet you for lunch so we can talk. But I need you to know that ahead of time."_

"That's fine. I just want to talk as friends. That's all I ask. When are you free?"

" _Wednesday? I work the late shift at the morgue so I can meet you for lunch before I go in."_

"Wednesday is perfect. How about noon at Maxwell's?"

" _I'll see you then."_  Molly tried not to sound too cold in her text message back to him. But she also didn't want to come off as too welcoming either. She  _had_  told him she had a boyfriend, it was just something didn't feel right to her about the way he was acting. Was it normal for an ex to want to meet up and talk as friends? She didn't exactly have much experience in that subject. Tom really was her only significant ex.

Either way, it was probably best to not tell Jim about seeing him for now. Most likely, Tom really did just want to be friends. They had always had a really good connection as friends. It was the relationship thing they had struggled with. He had always been far too immature for her, and she hated that she was constantly trying to change him.

There was no need to get Jim jealous for no reason. She knew him well enough by now to know he would most definitely get jealous. Jim's temper was like a volcano. He could be completely calm one moment and screaming threats into his phone not even a minute later.

She would tell him about it after she saw Tom. She was sure that once she could tell him it was strictly Tom wanting to be friends that it would be no big deal. Jim wouldn't even care, she was sure of it.  _Sure of it._


	12. Chapter 12

Molly was waiting anxiously at Maxwell's for her ex-fiancé Tom to show up. Having gotten there early she had extra time to sit around being nervous about meeting him.

She was tempted to leave. She could easily text him and let him know she changed her mind. That was probably the best thing to do. Why had she even thought this was a good idea?

Molly was about to stand up and leave when Tom walked through the door. He looked around the room until he noticed her and waved. He looked good. He looked like he had started working out, he was less lanky and more toned now.

"Hi." Molly stood up and gave him an awkward half hug.

"It's so great to see you." Tom grinned as he sat down, "You look great."

"You look nice also." Molly nodded. Her voice was coming out way too squeaky. This was such a bad idea. Why did she only realize how awful of an idea this was once it was too late to stop it?

"Yeah, well I took your advice and started working out. I've switched to a healthier lifestyle. I feel great, I should have listened to you sooner."

"That's great." Molly attempted to sound enthusiastic. "So why did you want to see me? It's been a really long time, I wasn't expecting to hear from you."

"Honestly… I missed you a lot." He paused and smiled as if he was nervous. "It took me a long time to realize that the reason our relationship didn't work out was completely my fault and I really wanted to apologize."

"You didn't have to. Or you could have done that with a simple text. I wasn't holding anything against you Tom."

"I know that. That's why you're such an amazing woman. I  _know_  you'd never hold it against me. You've always been so caring and forgiving. I've been having a hard time forgiving myself though."

"Tom…" Molly started to talk but Tom cut her off.

"Look, I know what you're going to say. But I've grown up a lot in the past year. I really have."

"I'm really happy for you Tom, that's great." Molly bit her lip, she had no clue what to say.

"I know you have a boyfriend now and I'm so sorry about the bad timing. But I honestly think you're who I'm meant to be with. You make me a better person. Even when we're not together I find myself wanting to better myself for you."

"Tom, I'm happy in the relationship I'm in now. I would be willing to have us try to be friends, but I can't be more than that with you."

"I'm not interested in being friends Molly. I care about you far too much to be your friend. I know now might not be our time. But I wanted you to know I'll fight for you. I won't give up on you even if it takes time. Because eventually I think you'll see that I'm the one for you too."

"I need to go. This was a terrible idea." Molly stood up and grabbed her purse.

"Molly, please… don't go." Tom stood up, his eyes pleading with her.

"Tom this is so inappropriate. You told me you just wanted to talk. I need you to understand that I'm with someone I love now. I genuinely hope you can find that with someone too. But it's not going to be with me, I'm sorry." Molly shook her head met his eyes. "I'm sorry." With that she hurried out of the restaurant, not wanting to spare another glance behind her. Who knew breaking someone's heart a second time would be just as hard as the first?

And even worse, what was she going to tell Jim? She should have just told him in the first place.  _"Congratulations Molly Hooper, you've managed to screw up everything."_ She chided herself mentally. At least she had until two in the morning to come up with how to tell Jim. Now she just had to hope he'd be in a good mood once she did.

* * *

Jim was working on his laptop at Molly's apartment when a knock on the door interrupted him. "What the fuck?" He complained as his concentration was broken. He set his computer on the couch and made his way over to the door. Jim made sure to look through the peephole to see who it was. If it was Sherlock paying Molly a surprise visit he was almost tempted to open the door. It would be so fun giving the detective a shock.

Instead Jim was met with a flower delivery man with an obnoxiously large vase of red roses. He swung the door open and glowered down at the teenager holding the flowers. "Can I help you?"

"I have a delivery." The boy gulped and looked visibly nervous.

"I think you have the wrong address kid." Jim uncrossed his arms and motioned for him to turn around and leave. He sure as hell hadn't sent Molly red roses, how incredibly predictable and dull.

"They're for Molly Hooper, this address sir." The boy looked like he was using all of his courage to respond. Jim raised his eyebrows and snatched the flowers out of his hands. "Well, look at that, you got it right after all. Good job." Jim reached into his pocket and stuffed a fifty dollar bill into his hands as a tip.

"Th-thanks sir." He looked amazed and quickly hurried away.

Jim slammed the front door to Molly's apartment and set the flowers on her kitchen countertop, fishing the card out. He opened it slowly and felt red hot rage course through him as he read it.

' _Molly- I had a great time at lunch. I'm sorry if I upset you. I meant what I said. I won't give up on you. One day I know you'll be mine again. -Love, Tom'_

Jim grabbed the vase of flowers and threw it at Molly's kitchen wall, enjoying watching as the vase shattered and sent the flowers flying around her kitchen. Fishing his phone out of his pocket he immediately dialed Sebastian Moran.

"Molly's ex-fiancé Tom. I want everything you can get on him. Including his address. Find him. Follow him. And I want this done yesterday." Jim barked the orders into the phone before Sebastian even finished saying hello.

"Can I ask why?" Sebastian replied, "What brought this on?"

"No. Just do as you're told." Jim yelled before hanging up.

Crushing the roses underfoot, he headed to the front door. He had to get back to his apartment to change. There was work to be done. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a trigger warning for violence for this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it

Jim met Sebastian Moran outside of the apartment building he now knew to be Tom's. "Am I allowed to inquire as to why I was following Tom for the last two hours?"

"I'm sure you've figured it out. You're smart." Jim silenced his phone and looked back up at his sniper.

"Well I was hoping the conclusion I came to was wrong. So how about you just tell me." Sebastian crossed his arms over his chest and shot Jim an impatient glare. Jim sighed and rolled his eyes but finally answered him. "We're here because I'm going to kill him. Tom's about to meet a violent and bloody end."

Jim had managed to compose himself in the last two hours. Rage wasn't a good emotion to have while committing murder. Rage is what caused people to slip up and make mistakes. Jim Moriarty didn't make mistakes.

Sebastian groaned and shook his head. "I sincerely hope you're joking." Sebastian shook his head as Jim made a face and shrugged rather than answering. "Why? You do realize Molly's going to lose her shit when she finds out."

"Molly doesn't need to know it was me."

"She'll know it was you the second she finds out what's happened. You're smart, you know that." Sebastian didn't care if his boss got mad at him. He had to at least try to reason with him. "You didn't answer me. Why are you going to kill him?"

"Apparently Molly met with him for lunch this afternoon."

Sebastian's eyes closed and he sighed as Jim spoke. "I'm going to guess she didn't tell you first?"

"I knew you were smart." Jim complimented him sarcastically. "She also received an obnoxious vase of roses from him. But the best part was the card vowing he wouldn't give up on her because he loved her." Jim brought both hands up to one side of his face and batted his eyes at Seb. "Isn't it romantic?" He laughed.

"Let's go." Sebastian gave in and got mentally prepared for the job at hand. He felt bad knowing it would hurt Molly. The two had become reluctant friends ever since their encounter at that bar. But this was his job, and if she was dumb enough to piss Jim off this much. Well… that was her problem.

Jim waltzed up to the building and pressed a buzzer for a random apartment. A woman's voice replied after a few seconds, "Hello?"

"Hello" Jim put on his best sugar coated voice, "I'm so very sorry to bother you. I'm here to drop off a package for my friend. They're at work right now so I can't call them and I stupidly forgot what the code was to get in. Would you mind buzzing me in?"

"Oh, no problem." The voice responded and almost immediately the door buzzed. Jim grinned wickedly at Sebastian and grabbed the door. Both of them ducked their heads so the video cameras wouldn't pick up their faces and took the stairs to the fifth floor where Tom lived.

"Apartment 504." Sebastian guessed Jim's question before he voiced it. Jim stood in front of the door for a moment and took a deep breath. "You're sure he's here?" Jim cast a sideways glance at Sebastian who simply nodded in reply.

Tom answered the door after a moments pause and looked at the two men in confusion. "Hi, sorry to bother you sir." Jim addressed him formally. "I've been hired by your landlord to check your carbon monoxide detector. May I come in?"

Tom looked between the two suspiciously and hesitated. "He didn't tell me anything about that."

"I was told he left all of the apartments voicemails about it." Jim remained calm, "It'll only take a few minutes of your day sir."

"Uhm… sure, that's fine." He stepped aside and Sebastian followed Jim into the apartment. Jim gave a small hand gesture and Sebastian immediately grabbed Tom, covering his mouth with one hand and pinning his arms behind his back with the other.

Tom attempted to yell and thrashed around in a desperate attempt to free himself, but he was no match for Sebastian's strength. Jim held a finger to his lips and locked the front door before grabbing a chair from the small table in his kitchen. He set it in the middle of the living room and motioned for Seb to set Tom down.

Sebastian dragged Tom and set him in the chair, holding him still as Jim pulled zip ties from a small duffel bag he'd been carrying. Jim easily zip-tied Tom's wrists together and tied his feet to the chair legs.

"I just want to talk to you." Jim spoke slowly and deliberately, staring directly into Tom's eyes. "If you attempt to scream once my partner releases your mouth I'll slit your throat and let you bleed out on this ugly carpet." Jim forced Tom to look down at the carpeting in question. Grabbing a handful of his hair and yanking his head up painfully, Jim made Tom meet his eyes again. "If you cooperate and don't scream we can talk like adults and I'll let you live. Do you understand?"

Tom nodded, his eyes wide with fear. Jim pulled out a knife and held it up where Tom could see it as Sebastian removed his hand. "Wh-wh-what do you want?" Tom stammered, his words jumbling together in a rush of terror.

"I just want to talk." Jim shrugged and smiled down at him. "I heard you met someone for lunch today. Is that true?"

Tom's eyebrows knit together in confusion and he slowly nodded his head. "I… I met my ex girlfriend for lunch. Wh-what does that have to do with anything?"

"It has to do with everything Tom." Jim sneered down at him.

Meeting his eyes terrified Tom. There was something ice cold about his eyes, they seemed terrifyingly vacant.

"Why did you meet her for lunch?"

Tom hesitated, seeming unsure of how to answer. What could this man possibly need to know about his lunch with Molly?

Sebastian walked around to face him and backhanded him hard across his face, causing a trickle of blood to flow from his nose. "When he asks you a question you'll answer." Sebastian held up his hand to strike again when Tom remained silent and Tom begged him not to hit him.

"I just wanted to talk to her. It had been a long time. I wanted us to be friends again."

"Hmm…" Jim covered his mouth with his hand, tapping on his face in thought. "You wouldn't lie to me right?" Jim taunted him, holding the knife up to his throat and pushing the tip of the blade in just enough to draw blood.

Tom cried out in pain and tried desperately to move away from the pressure of the blade. "No! No! I wouldn't lie to you… please. I don't know what you want, but you can have it. Please… d-don't hurt me."

"So you're telling me I have wrong information then?" Jim raised his eyebrows at Tom and pretended to be considering it. "Because I was told you wanted to get back together with her, despite knowing she had a boyfriend."

"I… no. I would never steal someone away from their boyfriend. I'm not even interested in Molly. She's nice, but she's not worth fighting for." Tom was trying desperately to save his own skin while unknowingly digging himself a deeper hole.

Jim's eyes grew wide and a large grin spread across his face. "Is that so? What's wrong with her then? Not good looking enough for you?"

"I just wanted to be her friend, that's all. I swear."

"You see…" Jim sighed and shook his head, "I think Molly is worth fighting for." Jim leaned in so his face was inches from Tom's. "In fact, I think Molly is worth killing for."

Jim watched with satisfaction as the realization dawned on Tom's face. It had taken the moron long enough. "And I happen to have seen the card you sent to her. So do you want to start over?"

"Okay… please…" Tom began begging desperately. "I tried to talk to her about us getting back together. I didn't know her relationship was serious. Please… don't hurt me. I'll never contact her again. I can move, I'll do anything."

"Don't bother attempting to play to my soft heart, I don't have one." Jim countered. "I want you to think about this, about this whole situation. Because it could have been avoided."

Sebastian walked over and settled into one of Tom's armchairs. He knew once Jim went into lecture mode it could take some time. He was perfectly content sitting back and watching the show anyways, Jim had it under control.

"There are certain boundaries you shouldn't cross Tom. One of those being that you don't try to steal another man's girlfriend. I'm all for some rule breaking and illegal fun." Jim plunged the knife into Tom's leg, sinking the blade deep into his thigh, causing Tom to begin howling in pain. "See? Isn't this fun?" Jim giggled maniacally and continued on with his lesson.

"But there are lines Tom. Like stealing another man's girlfriend. I watched and waited patiently for two years for her to break up with you. To be honest I had given you're relationship a month tops. You were far too stupid for her. But Molly settles very easily." Jim wrinkled his nose in disgust at the thought.

Tom was shaking and hyperventilating while he writhed in pain. He was losing a lot of blood from his leg. "Please." He interrupted Jim, his voice barely a whisper of pain.

"Jim, stop toying with him. He's been screaming so loud there's no way the neighbors haven't called the police by now." Sebastian cut in and Jim pouted in return.

"Fine." Jim whined like a child, but he gave in. He set Sebastian to tearing apart Tom's apartment and Jim cut Tom's zip ties loose, pocketing them and forcing him to stand up.

"There you go." Jim coaxed him up and Sebastian took the chair away, placing it perfectly where it belonged. There were blood stains on it, but he didn't have time to attempt to scrub them off.

"Are you going to let me go?" Tom asked in a hopeful whisper.

"Am I going to let you go?" Jim laughed and forced Tom to meet his eyes. "What would give you that idea?" As Tom's face scrunched up in confusion Jim plunged the knife into his neck, expertly severing his jugular vein and letting Tom fall to the floor.

"I want you to remember, had you just resisted talking to Molly you could have lived your life. But now? Now you get to die staring at my face. Funny thing about choices. You'll never know where they'll lead you." Jim leaned down and watched as Tom died choking on his own blood.

"Are we done now?" Sebastian asked, his voice far more impatient as time ticked by. "I don't feel like going to jail, and I know you don't either."

"We're done." Jim smiled, "That was quite possibly the most relaxing thing I've done in weeks."

"If only Molly had more ex boyfriends for you to murder." Sebastian shot back, making Jim laugh hysterically.

"If only."

They gave their handiwork one last look and then ducked their heads once again before hurrying out of Tom's apartment building.

Molly's heart was pounding in her chest as she made it home to her apartment. The entire time she'd been at work she'd been panicking, trying to think of the best way to tell Jim about her lunch with Tom. The only thing she'd come up with was that she should have told him in the first place.

As she opened her door she flipped on the lights, surprised to find the apartment dark. Was Jim asleep already? Normally she couldn't get him to go to sleep before three or four in the morning. And that was at the earliest. The man never stopped working, it was sickening.

"Jim?" She called out, making her way to the bedroom to find that empty as well. When she turned around her eyes landed on the red roses lying all over the ground, scattered among shattered crystal. 'No, no, no, no, no.' The word repeated in her head and her heart felt like it sunk into her stomach

She reached down with shaking hands and grabbed the small card off the counter. 'Molly- I had a great time at lunch. I'm sorry if I upset you. I meant what I said. I won't give up on you. One day I know you'll be mine again. -Love, Tom'

The words on the card didn't seem real to her. She was desperate to have the card and the flowers be a figment of her imagination. Sinking to the floor among the shattered glass she grabbed her phone out and hurriedly dialed Jim's number.

When he finally answered everything she had planned to say disappeared and she found herself unable to speak. A simple hi was all she managed to squeak out.

"Are you home safe?" Jim asked, his voice harsh.

"Yes…"

"Good, go to sleep." There was no warmth to what he was saying at all. When he normally spoke to her his voice was always so soft, so caring. There was none of that now. His voice sounded hollow and unfeeling.

Molly could feel the tears pooling in her eyes, threatening to spill any moment now. "Jim…" She choked out as she began to cry, "Please come home. I need to talk to you… I need to explain."

"I am at home." Jim snapped. The words stung as if he'd smacked her. She couldn't remember the last time he'd referred to his own apartment as home. He'd been considering her flat as home for months. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, I'm not in the mood."

"I wasn't hiding it from you, I was going to tell you as soon as I got home tonight." The words poured out of her, a desperate plea for him to listen to her. "I just didn't think you'd care. You said you knew I was yours remember? I'm an idiot Jim, I know I am."

"I'll come over tomorrow night. We'll talk then. Goodnight." With that the phone line clicked and went silent. Molly let her phone fall to the ground and laid on her side. Not noticing or caring about the shards of glass cutting into her, she pulled her knees up to her chest, sobs racking her entire body.

Jim had never spoken to her like that. She couldn't even remember a time he seemed genuinely mad at her. Even during their fight at the bar she had been more mad at him than he had been with her.

It terrified her. All she wanted was to be able to explain herself. Even if she just explained that she was an idiot. She could hear how checked out he sounded on the phone. It was the same vacant tone he'd used the first time they had broken up.

Her worst fear was losing him, and she had a sinking feeling she had done an excellent job of bringing that about. Molly cried herself hoarse until she forced herself to get up off the floor and go lie in her bed.

The bed felt so empty without Jim beside her. She could almost smell him there. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine he was there, lying next to her. He would be stroking his fingers through her hair and planting teasing kisses on her eyelids as she tried to sleep. He was always trying to keep her awake with him.

A new batch of tears began pouring out of her eyes and she tried to call him again, only to find that it went straight to voicemail. "Jim, please, I'm so sorry. I would never do this to hurt you. I would never do anything to hurt you. I'm so stupid… so stupid. I can't sleep without you here. It feels so wrong. I feel empty. Jim… I love you so much…"

The I love you was the last thing she managed to get out before her tears cut her off once again. Molly threw her phone away from her and grabbed his pillow, hugging it to her chest and letting it soak up her tears until her crying finally exhausted her enough to fall asleep.


	14. Chapter 14

Molly had been moping in her bed for the majority of the day when she was disturbed by a loud knock at the door. Practically jumping out of bed and sprinting to the door she swung it open, hoping to see Jim and instead finding Greg Lestrade.

"Uhm… hi?" She felt herself deflate and forced a smile to her face. "What are you doing here?"

Greg studied her and looked concerned. "Are you okay? Have you been crying?" He stepped towards her and Molly stepped out of reach.

"I was watching a sad movie, I'm okay." She smiled again to put him at ease. Greg seemed to accept her excuse and nodded. "I stopped by because there's something that I need to tell you, and I thought it best to do it in person."

"Okay?" She couldn't imagine why he was acting so strange. A pang of panic hit her as she considered that he might have found out she was dating Jim.

"Have you seen Tom lately?"

"Yeah, yesterday. He wanted to talk so we met for lunch. Turns out he just wanted to try to get back together with me. Why?"

"Can I come in?" Greg asked softly and Molly nodded. Closing the door behind him, she motioned for him to sit on the couch.

"Why are you asking about Tom? Did he get himself in trouble or something?" Molly sat across from him. "Yesterday was the first time I've talked to him in like a year. If he's wanting me to bail him out of jail or something, it's not happening."

"Molly, we found Tom in his apartment this morning. He was murdered in what appears to be a break-in that went wrong."

Molly froze, sure she had heard him wrong. There was no way Tom was dead. It couldn't possibly be true. "Wait… what?"

"I'm so sorry Molly." Greg looked genuinely upset that he had to tell her this.

"He's dead? How? What happened?" The stream of questions poured out of her. Her stomach was twisting uncomfortably and she felt faintly like she was going to puke. "That can't be possible."

"Molly" Greg moved like he was going to come forward and comfort her but thought better of it and sat back down. "It looks as if the burglars broke in and Tom tried to fight back."

"How did they do it?" Molly knew he probably thought she was crazy for asking, but she needed to know. It was important.

"Molly, you don't want to know that."

"I do post mortems as my job, I can handle it. Tell me." Molly snapped. She wasn't some delicate flower, she needed to know what happened.

"They slit his throat." Greg sighed and looked down at the floor. He didn't want to have to meet her eyes.

Molly felt tears begin to slide down her cheek and wiped them away. Poor Tom, he must have been so afraid. "Is there anything I can do for you?" Greg asked gently. She knew he just wanted to help, but the only thing she wanted was to be left alone.

"No, thanks for telling me in person Greg." Molly spoke softly, "I think I need to be alone right now."

Greg stood up and hesitated at her door like he wanted to say something. Changing his mind he gave her a small wave and left, closing the door softly behind him.

Molly felt like she was paralyzed in her stupid armchair. She couldn't reconcile the fact that Tom was dead. She had seen him less than twenty four hours ago. He'd been looking so good, so healthy. And now he was gone.

She couldn't help thinking of his parents and it made her feel like her heart was breaking. She couldn't begin to imagine what they were going through, losing their only son.

And then a darker thought crept into her mind. One she didn't want to consider but knew she had to.  _Jim._  Greg had said it was a break in. But that's what Jim did wasn't it? He concealed crimes with cover ups.

She didn't want to believe Jim had killed Tom. But she couldn't get the way he sounded on the phone last night out of her head. He had sounded so angry, and so cold on the phone.

But he  _had_  promised he wouldn't hurt any of her friends multiple times throughout their relationship. At the very least he'd said he wouldn't kill them. He wouldn't do something that would cause her this much pain… right?

She knew it was wrong of her but she desperately wanted it to be someone random that had killed Tom. She could handle it if he was killed by some random assholes that broke into his apartment.

She wasn't sure she could live with the fact that Jim had killed him. Especially knowing it was her fault that his family had to go through this pain. All because her boyfriend had a jealous temper tantrum.

Molly dialed Jim's number, waiting anxiously as the phone rang. "Hello?" He sounded more calm today, more like the Jim she was used to

"I need you to come over here right now. I don't want to hear any excuses about how you're busy either. I need to talk to you." Molly commanded into the phone. She had never ordered Jim around before and she was slightly worried as to how he'd react.

"I'll be there soon." He sounded confused, but he assured her he'd come over right away.

Molly hung up without saying good bye and rested her phone back on her coffee table. She wasn't sure what she would do if it turned out to have been Jim's doing. Her heart felt as though it had seized up in her chest and was slowly tearing itself apart. Leaning back in the chair she covered her face with her hands and tried to calm herself by taking deep breaths.

How had everything gotten so bad so quickly? It wasn't even supposed to be a big deal. It was supposed to be a simple lunch. She was just hoping they could be friends.

She always tried to see the good in people. She was always giving them second chances. And now her naiveté had most likely gotten Tom killed. All because she hadn't wanted to be rude and ignore him. And because she hadn't wanted to bother Jim with it until she knew why he wanted to talk.

She turned and wiped more tears from her face as Jim let himself into her apartment. He walked straight over to the couch and sat across from her, exactly where greg had been sitting previously. "You're still crying?" He raised one curious eyebrow at her and sighed.

"I'm crying because Greg Lestrade was just here to tell me Tom was murdered last night! He had his throat slit in an apparent break-in." Molly's tone was accusatory and she glared at Jim coldly. "Do you know anything about that?"

Jim looked at the ceiling and then back down at her, nodding slowly. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?!" Molly felt as if someone had punched her in the gut. "Sorry for what? That someone else killed him, or that you did. And don't lie to me!"

"So you just assume I did it then?" Jim's eyes flared with anger.

"Don't act like I'm an idiot Jim, I can tell when you're lying." She was cut off by more tears. "How could you do this to me?" This time her voice came out choked and barely a whisper. "You promised you'd never hurt any of my friends."

"Tom wasn't one of your friends."

"No, he was my ex-fiancé Jim, that's almost worse. I knew his family, I love his family. And now I have to live with the fact that he's dead because I wanted to be nice and meet him for lunch."

"You should have told me about it!"

"I know I should have!" Molly yelled back, "But that doesn't mean you go out and kill him because  _I_  made a mistake! Did you even care about how much it would hurt me? Did you even give that a second of thought?"

"I thought about how it was bullshit that someone was trying to steal you away from me. That's what I thought about Molly." He snapped back at her. "I don't take kindly to that type of thing. Don't act like this is some shock to you."

"Because you had so much to worry about right? As if I was going to go running off with Tom? Never mind that it's not exactly a secret that I'm in love with  _you_  not him."

"I did have something to worry about. I worry about losing you. Every! Fucking! Day!" He stood up and kicked her coffee table, sending it a few inches away. "And then you meet your ex-boyfriend without telling me?! Sorry. I don't have any idea how I could have possibly been angry about that."

Molly stood up as well and crossed her arms over her chest. "So be angry with me! Don't go take it out on Tom."

"Of course I'm going to take it out on Tom. He's the one sending you cards saying he'll make you his again someday. So am I supposed to assume you didn't tell him you were in a relationship?"

"I did tell him I was in a relationship. I told him I was in a very happy relationship. That's why I left after five minutes!"

"Exactly. And yet he still sent you flowers and a stupid fucking card vowing to make you his."

"So that means he deserves to die?"

"In my book it does. I'm sorry that all of a sudden you can't handle that."

"All of a sudden?" Molly smacked him hard across his face. "I've never had to deal with worrying about you killing people out of jealousy. I thought you trusted me enough. That's why I didn't think it would be a big deal if I met him for lunch and told you afterwards. I figured I'd see what he wanted before I worried you with it."

"I do trust you. But there are certain lines you don't cross. If you know a girl has a boyfriend and you still harass her and try to get together with her then you're a scumbag."

"You're right there are lines you don't cross. And killing your girlfriend's ex-fiancé is a pretty huge one Jim. You know what? I want you to leave. I can't do this."

Jim's eyes narrowed and she saw him clench his fists in anger. "You can't do  _what_? Us? You don't want to be with me anymore?" For a second it was hurt rather than rage that she saw in his eyes and it cut into her like a knife.

"I can't look at you right now without picturing you slitting Tom's throat." Molly barely got the words out. If she had never experienced heartbreak before she was positive she was feeling it now. Every part of her wanted to collapse into Jim's arms and just sob. But he was the one causing her to feel this pain. She couldn't just let it go, even if it killed her to hurt him.

Jim clenched both fists and shook his head. "No. Tell me you don't care about me! Tell me you don't love me!" He stepped towards her and Molly stepped back, sandwiched between the wall and Jim. "Tell me you care more about that fucking pathetic asshole than you do for me!" Jim demanded, his hand pressing against her throat and holding her in place against the wall.

"Jim you're scaring me. Stop." The look in his eyes was almost feral and as much as she wanted to believe he wouldn't hurt her, she knew she couldn't take a chance.

"Tell me! Tell me you don't love me and I'll go."

"Jim, please." Molly begged, tears streaming down her face and blurring her vision. "You know I can't say that."

Jim's eyes watered and he punched the wall next to her, leaving a hole in his wake. Molly jumped and closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath Molly opened her eyes and in one swift movement grabbed the gun she knew he carried from out of his waistband. She held it in front of her, her hands shaking.

"Please Jim, I don't want to do this. But you're scaring me. I need you to go."

Jim's eyes focused on the gun and a single tear streaked down his cheek. She had never seen him cry. Not even when he talked about the abuse he'd endured as a child. The fact that she was the one causing it made her feel as if she was numb. She was on the verge of losing it. She was holding herself together as best she could. But she didn't know how much more she could take. She'd never felt more broken-hearted in her life. She wouldn't wish this pain on anyone.

Jim grabbed the gun, his two hands holding it over her own, and pressed it to his heart. "Do it!" He yelled at her. "You want to kill me? Then do it!" His voice broke as he screamed for her to do it a second time and Molly sank to the floor, holding the gun beside her as her body was overtaken by heavy sobs.

"Please just go Jim. Please." She pleaded with him, covering her face with her hands. She didn't want to have to see him cry, she couldn't handle seeing him cry. Even as much as he had hurt her he was still the person she loved most in the world. And she couldn't bear to know it was her who was breaking his heart.

She heard the door close and when she opened her eyes he was gone. It was what she'd wanted. Alone in her apartment it became far too real. Jim was gone. And not for a week or two on business. She had lost him.

There was no remedy for the pain she felt. Pain that was on the verge of tearing her apart. And for the second night in a row Molly found herself curled up in her bed, sobbing until sleep finally granted her the oblivion she desperately craved.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a re-working of chapter 14 but from Jim's perspective. It's not necessary to read, but someone requested it from his view and I thought it turned out well enough to share it with people who'd be interested in it. Enjoy!

Jim wasn't surprised when he saw Molly's name pop up on his phone. He had been wondering how soon she would call him. He had almost given in and called her back last night after he heard her voicemail, but in the end he was still too angry. "Hello?" he answered calmly.

"I need you to come over here right now. I don't want to hear any excuses about how you're busy either. I need to talk to you." She sounded downright bossy today, he was actually quite proud of her. Why she'd need to talk to him that urgently he didn't know, but he agreed. "I'll be there soon."

Jim got dressed, going for a casual outfit today, and left to go straight to Molly's. He wanted to talk to her, so in part he was glad she ordered him over right now. He'd been putting it off all morning. He hated fighting with her. Why she had to act so stupid and go behind his back to see Tom he still didn't understand.

Letting himself into her apartment he walked over to the couch and looked at her curiously. "You're still crying?" The words came out more cruel than he'd intended and he sighed, not knowing what else to say. For one of the first times in his life, he was speechless. Torn between yelling at her or comforting her.

"I'm crying because Greg Lestrade was just here to tell me Tom was murdered last night! He had his throat slit in an apparent break-in." Her tone and demeanor was ice cold. He was screwed. Sebastian had been right, it had only taken her a few minutes to piece it all together. "Do you know anything about that?"

"I'm sorry." He nodded slowly. It was probably better to just apologize right off the bat. She'd only be more mad if he lied to her. He didn't want to lie to her anyways.

"You're sorry?! Sorry for what? That someone else killed him, or that you did. And don't lie to me!"

He had done it, but the way she was screaming at him still bothered him. It was entirely possible someone other than him would have killed Tom. After all, he was an infuriating human being. "So you just assume I did it then?" He was well aware how ridiculous that statement was considering he  _had_ in fact done it.

"Don't act like I'm an idiot Jim, I can tell when you're lying." She started crying again and Jim felt his heart constrict in his chest. "How could you do this to me?" She spoke quietly, the pain evident in her strained words. "You promised you'd never hurt any of my friends."

"Tom wasn't one of your friends." He was your bloody awful ex boyfriend, Jim kept that thought to himself.

"No, he was my ex-fiancé Jim, that's almost worse. I knew his family, I love his family. And now I have to live with the fact that he's dead because I wanted to be nice and meet him for lunch."

"You should have told me about it!" Jim's rage exploded again, and he tried to get himself under control for her.

"I know I should have!" she yelled back, meeting his anger. "But that doesn't mean you go out and kill him because  _I_  made a mistake! Did you even care about how much it would hurt me? Did you even give that a second of thought?"

"I thought about how it was bullshit that someone was trying to steal you away from me. That's what I thought about Molly." He snapped back at her. "I don't take kindly to that type of thing. Don't act like this is some shock to you."

"Because you had so much to worry about right? As if I was going to go running off with Tom? Never mind that it's not exactly a secret that I'm in love with  _you_  not him."

"I did have something to worry about. I worry about losing you. Every! Fucking! Day!" He stood up and kicked her coffee table, sending it a few inches away. Clenching his fists at his sides he took a deep breath and faced her. "And then you meet your ex-boyfriend without telling me?! Sorry. I don't have any idea how I could have possibly been angry about that."

"So be angry with me! Don't go take it out on Tom." Molly stood up and crossed her arms over her chest, meeting Jim's eye contact with a steely glare.

"Of course I'm going to take it out on Tom. He's the one sending you cards saying he'll make you his again someday. So am I supposed to assume you didn't tell him you were in a relationship?"

"I did tell him I was in a relationship. I told him I was in a very happy relationship. That's why I left after five minutes!" Her words almost made Jim laugh out loud, but he held it in, knowing it would only fan the flame.

"Exactly. And yet he still sent you flowers and a stupid fucking card vowing to make you his." Jim sneered, the words coming out cold and mocking. How she couldn't see his point of view was beyond him.

"So that means he deserves to die?"

"In my book it does. I'm sorry that all of a sudden you can't handle that."

"All of a sudden?" Molly smacked him hard across his face and Jim stared at her blankly, shocked. "I've never had to deal with worrying about you killing people out of jealousy. I thought you trusted me enough. That's why I didn't think it would be a big deal if I met him for lunch and told you afterwards. I figured I'd see what he wanted before I worried you with it."

"I do trust you. But there are certain lines you don't cross. If you know a girl has a boyfriend and you still harass her and try to get together with her then you're a scumbag." Jim tried to make her understand. He could see the hurt and anger in her eyes. And the knowledge that he was the one to cause it was like a blow to the chest. He'd known she'd be upset if she found out, Sebastian had even warned him. But he hadn't thought she'd be this mad.

"You're right there are lines you don't cross. And killing your girlfriend's ex-fiancé is a pretty huge one Jim. You know what? I want you to leave. I can't do this." Jim's eyes narrowed and he froze. The words stopped him in his tracks and he clenched his fists at his side, unable to speak or even move.

"You can't do  _what_? Us? You don't want to be with me anymore?" He asked her, the pain of that thought crashing over him like a tidal wave. She was speaking again but everything she said was coming out as if she was speaking another language. He could faintly make out her saying something about him slitting Tom's throat, but it sounded like there was a roaring inside of his head.

He shook his head, desperate to clear the noise out and focus on Molly. He couldn't lose her, he had to do something to salvage this. "No. Tell me you don't care about me! Tell me you don't love me!" His yelling broke through and he was snapped to focus again, stepping towards her. She stepped back and instead of hurt he felt a fresh wave of anger. She was afraid of him now? He wasn't sure which hurt worse. "Tell me you care more about that fucking pathetic asshole than you do for me!" Jim's hand moved lightly to her throat, holding her in place before he even registered what he was doing.

"Jim you're scaring me. Stop." She was shaking like a leaf beneath his touch, her eyes wide and nervous.

"Tell me!" He begged her, his voice slipping more into a sad desperation than the anger from before. "Tell me you don't love me and I'll go."

"Jim, please." Molly begged him, tears beginning to fall from her beautiful eyes. "You know I can't say that." It didn't matter to him, it didn't matter if she said it. It was obvious. She had told him she loved him, and she had lied. She wouldn't be leaving him otherwise. He always knew when it came right down to it, she couldn't love him. He was too far gone for even someone as angelic as Molly to love.

He punched his fist through the wall and looked down at his feet. He faintly felt Molly reach behind him and when he looked back up he saw her pointing his gun at him. "Please Jim, I don't want to do this. But you're scaring me. I need you to go." Her voice was stern, demanding. He stared down the barrel and finally his walls broke down, he couldn't hold it back anymore. The woman he loved was threatening to kill him.

He felt the tears, streaming hot down his cheeks, the feeling absolutely foreign to him. He couldn't recall the last time he cried, and he was having a hard time keeping them down now. Jim grabbed the gun and pressed it over his heart, willing her with his eyes to pull the trigger. This was how it was going to end for him. Not in a battle of wills with Sherlock Holmes. No, instead his fate was to be shot down by the only person he'd ever loved. It seemed fitting. "Do it!" he yelled when she just held it there. "You want to kill me? Then do it!" His voice broke as more tears fought their way out.

The gun slipped out of his hands as Molly sank to the ground, her body heaving with sobs of her own. "Please just go Jim. Please." She spoke from behind her hands, she wouldn't even look at him now. Jim stared down at her, silently willing her to meet his eyes one last time. When she didn't he finally turned and left, giving up. He slammed the door behind him and sunk to the ground on the other side dropping his forehead to his knees and allowing himself to cry.

The pain he was feeling was almost unbearable, it was different than anything he'd ever felt. If he thought he had suffered after losing her the first time, it didn't compare to the pain of losing her now. He knew her now. He knew all of her quirks and peculiarities. He knew about her past, and she knew about his. He'd honestly allowed himself to believe she was always going to be there for him. And now that hope was gone. His Molly was gone, and it was his own actions that had pushed her away.

He pushed himself up and forced himself to leave. He had known better than to pin his hope on someone seeing him as anything but a monster. Hope was a dangerous thing. And caring was not an advantage, something proven to him once again.

He got into his car and headed back to his own flat. He had his work at least. If there was anything he could use to get his mind off of this heartbreak it was that. And if there wasn't enough work Sebastian would damn well have to find him some more… and soon.


	16. Chapter 16

Molly was lying on her couch, the covers wrapped around her like a burrito, Toby lying heavily on her chest. It had only been a few days since her and Jim's breakup. But it felt like it had been weeks. The days had become a blur of crying and sleeping, until it seemed to Molly that was all she did. She couldn't recall a time in her life when she'd allowed herself to mope for this long. But the last time she'd been this depressed had been when her Aunt Jessa had died.

That's what it felt like. It felt as if someone she loved had died. Hell, it felt like a part of  _her_  had died.

She heard her ringtone go off, signaling she had a text, and she ignored it. It was one of many she had gotten in the last few days, all from Cordelia no doubt. Her friend was worried about her. Molly had called off her last few shifts at work, something she almost never did. But she just couldn't imagine getting off her couch, let alone being able to function well enough to work.

She would have to go back tomorrow though. Without a doctor's note, she couldn't prolong her absence any longer. Molly doubted she could get anyone to write her one for depression, but maybe she could get Cordelia to give her one for mono. That would give her quite a bit of time off.

Knowing her friend would never agree to that Molly rolled onto her side, sending Toby scrambling to climb back on top of her, and went back to sleep.

* * *

Jim was drenched in blood, not his own but that of the man at his feet. Looking down at the man Sebastian had brought him, he felt nothing. If it was supposed to help him, it hadn't worked. All it had done was ruined a perfectly good outfit. "This is why I don't like getting my hands dirty." Jim complained into the darkness.

He knew Sebastian was in the warehouse somewhere, watching and listening, making sure Jim was okay. The tall blonde sniper stepped into the dimly lit center of the room where Jim was and sighed. "You weren't supposed to kill him. You said you needed me to find you more workers. That your staff was getting thin."

"Yes, well, he failed the interview process." Jim held his hand out and Sebastian passed him his coat, watching as his boss wiped the blood from his face onto it.

"Guess I'll be getting a new coat." Sebastian commented as Jim tossed it back to him. "Jim, you can't do this forever you know. It's sloppy. I don't care if you're upset, you can't risk getting yourself caught for something petty and stupid like this."

"Are you the boss in this situation or am I?!" Jim yelled in response, his temper flaring up at the drop of a hat.

"Perhaps you shouldn't be when you're making decisions like this." Sebastian snapped back. "I'm trying to protect you. It's been weeks Jim."

"This has nothing to do with her."

"This has everything to do with her!" Sebastian threw his hands up in exasperation. "Your answer to everything lately is to kill the problem. All of us are scrambling to keep up, but you can't keep doing this. I know you're upset, but stop risking everything you worked for because you're going through a breakup."

"You think I don't know how to run my own network?" Jim growled, stepping closer to Sebastian, "I've been running it since I was a child. Don't think that suddenly you know more than me."

"I don't think I know more than you! I think you're not operating with a cool head like you normally do. And you need to get it under control." Jim punched Sebastian, his fist connecting with Seb's jaw.

"Threats work far better with your customers than murder does." Sebastian clenched his jaw but continued, "All you're accomplishing is eliminating your current client base, and stopping new ones from coming to you in the future. Use your head! You're a genius. Act like it."

Sebastian pushed Jim away from him and turned to leave.

"Where are you going?!" Jim screamed after him.

"Home. I'm sorry you're hurting boss, I really am. But I've cleaned up enough bodies in the last few weeks. Call Vin." With that Sebastian left, leaving Jim alone in the dark of the warehouse.

* * *

"I got us each a pint of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Therapy ice cream, I brought over some movies to watch, and I got a bottle of wine." Cordelia grinned as Molly let her into her apartment and pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm glad you're finally letting me come over and have a girl's night with you."

"I know. I'm sorry it seemed like I was shutting you out, I just didn't want to be around anyone at first. Not even my best friend." Molly admitted, hugging her friend back.

"So does that mean you're doing a little better?" Cordelia asked hopefully. She set her bag on the kitchen counter and pulled out all of the stuff she had brought with her. Molly put the ice cream in the freezer while Cordelia rooted through Molly's cabinet for wine glasses.

"I guess I'm doing better." Molly looked through the movies she had brought. "Thelma and Louise?" Molly laughed as she held it up.

"What?" Cordelia laughed, "You're totally the Thelma to my Louise." She handed Molly the two glasses and Molly poured them each a large glass. "I'm glad to hear you're doing better. Even if it didn't sound entirely honest."

Molly cast her friend a look and sighed, "I  _am_  doing better. Just not a  _lot_  better. I still miss him."

"Anyone would, that's nothing to feel guilty about. Don't you ever consider calling him and trying to work it out?"

Molly had told Cordelia they broke up because Jim worked too much. So she didn't blame her friend for thinking it could be easily fixed. But Molly knew she couldn't just call Jim and forgive him for what he did. He'd messed up too badly for that.

"I think about calling him every night." Molly laughed uncomfortably, "But I don't let myself. I just need to force myself to move on. It's just rough, I love him. Sometimes I just want to call him and listen to him talk for a while." She confessed "It's weird when you stop talking to someone who was once a huge part of your daily routine."

"I know it is. I've been there." Cordelia frowned and took a big sip of wine. "But you know I'm here for you when you need me to be. I'll always be a call away. So if you're ever tempted to do something you don't want to, just call me and I'll distract you."

"Thanks Cordy, you're honestly the best friend I've ever had." Molly bit her lip. "I'm not used to having someone who doesn't mind being there for me."

"Well, get used to it. Because I'm not going to let you go back to shutting me out. That's not good for you."

"I appreciate it." Molly laughed, "Should we pop in Thelma and Louise?" Having Cordelia over felt so nice. It was the first time in the weeks since her and Jim broke up that she was honestly laughing and having a good time. It was like Cordelia had brought some sunshine back to Molly's flat.

"Sure. If that's the one you want to watch."

"I've never seen it." Molly admitted, "I can't be your Thelma until I watch it."

"How have you never watched it?" Cordelia's eyes widened, "Oh god, just wait until you see Brad Pitt in this movie. He's like melt your panties off good looking in it."

"Cordy!" Molly choked on her wine and the two burst into a fit of laughter. "Hey, quick question before the movie starts. What would you think about me texting Sebastian to see if he'd come over to talk to me sometime?" It was an idea that had been plaguing her thoughts regularly.

She just desperately needed to know that Jim was doing okay. Even if she wasn't. She couldn't get that look of hurt out of her mind, and she felt guilty every time she pictured it.

"About Jim?" Cordelia asked, and Molly nodded. Cordelia chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about it and finally shrugged. "I think you should if it's something you want to do. What's the worst that could happen? What do you want to ask him? If you don't mind my asking."

"I just want to see how Jim is doing without having to actually talk to him. I know if I talk to Jim I'll cave in, you know? But if I could see how he's doing through Seb, then I could maybe officially start moving on if I knew he was okay."

"I think you should just see if he'll come over. If you think it could help you, then you should. I can talk to him too. Here, take my phone and get his number. I'll talk to him about it when I see him tomorrow."

Molly caught her phone and scrolled through, bringing up the sniper's number. Molly held the phone up and made an amused face. "You have a heart next to his name?"

"Don't read into it too much." Cordelia giggled, "It's just because he's a love interest. I always put hearts next to any guy I'm hooking up with's name."

Molly entered his number into her phone and composed a message. She kept it nice and simple.  _'Hi Seb. It's Molly. Was wondering if you could meet me to talk soon? It's important."_

And then a moment after sending it she sent one more.  _'And don't tell Jim."_  Just for good measure. She didn't trust Sebastian not to tell Jim immediately, she knew he was extremely loyal to him. Molly leaned forward and gave Cordelia her phone back, thanking her.

"Okay, let's watch this. I'm excited."

"You should be, it's the perfect girl's night movie. And when we run out of this wine, it's ice cream time."

"I think I love you." Molly smiled warmly.

"I love you too bestie." Cordelia pulled Molly into a hug, sending the two into another fit of giggles. For the first time in weeks Molly felt happy. She settled backwards, getting comfortable on the couch as the movie started. She might need to have these girl's nights with Cordelia more often.


	17. Chapter 17

Molly scrambled off her sofa and to the front door as soon as she heard the first knock, opening it to an impatient Sebastian Moran. "Hi Sebastian." Molly let him into her apartment and locked the door behind him, "Thank you for coming. I appreciate it."

"You do realize I really shouldn't be here right?" Sebastian glared at her.

"Yes." Molly answered quickly, "That's why I appreciate you coming anyways."

"I only have an hour before Jim is finished with his meeting. So start talking." Sebastian perched himself on the edge of her armchair, rather than allowing himself to get comfortable and Molly felt bad for a moment.

She knew she was putting him in an awkward situation but she was desperate. "You're not with him while he's at a meeting? Is he safe?"

Sebastian rolled his eyes and didn't bother trying to conceal his deep sigh. "Do you think I'd allow him to be in danger? It's just a simple meeting. I wasn't invited, so you got lucky. Talk."

Now that Molly had Sebastian here she couldn't manage to form the sentences she had planned so carefully. It had been two months since her and Jim broke up. Two months of complete hell and misery. She had almost called Jim every night since, but she had managed to be strong and control the impulse. But she needed to know if he was okay.

"Uhm… I guess… I just wanted to know if he's okay." Molly stammered. She could feel her face burning with embarrassment.

Sebastian stared at her as if she had grown a third eye but answered anyways. "Is he okay? He's always angry and moody." Sebastian shrugged. "Which isn't anything new. But it's certainly far worse than I've experienced in the past. So your guess is as good as mine. He doesn't open up about his feelings to me, and I'd never ask him about them."

Well he was extremely helpful wasn't he? Molly thought bitterly. "Well do you think he even cares?" Molly snapped.

Sebastian shot Molly a cruel look and shook his head at her. "I'm not going to answer stupid fucking questions like that. What the fuck do you think? From what I heard you pulled a gun on him and he told you to kill him. So what do  _you_  think?" Sebastian snapped at her. "I'm not answering any stupid questions, so don't waste your breath. If you're going to make me come here and risk Jim strangling me at least ask questions worth that risk."

"Sorry." Molly's voice came out tiny, "You're right." She held her hands up in surrender and bit her lip. "Do you think he's sorry he killed Tom?" That was one of the biggest questions Molly had to ask. And if Sebastian told her it was stupid she might smack him, even if that meant taking her life into her own hands.

""Honestly. I don't know. I wish I could give you a better answer." She could tell he actually meant it. "I've never seen Jim feel remorse for anything he does. So if I had to guess, I'd say no."

Molly felt her heart sink and she nodded, unsure of how to reply to that.

"But I can't say that for sure. That's not the type of thing he'd bring up. You know that. I think he probably  _would_  take it back if he could though."

Molly's head snapped back up and she met his eyes. "You think he'd take it back?"

"Like I said, he's been extremely moody and violent lately. It's not that it's out of character, but it's more extreme. If I  _had_  to guess I would say he regrets it. That doesn't mean he's sorry though."

"I know. I don't think he's sorry either." Molly admitted. "I think even if he regrets it he'd still do the exact same thing if he was given the chance to redo it."

"He would. It's who he is Molly. You're the one who said you could love him anyways."

"You do too." Molly answered quietly.

Sebastian just sighed and nodded. "I'm not the one he loves back though."

"I don't know what to do Seb." Molly started crying despite her best efforts not to. Sebastian, for his part, just stared at her and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He clearly was not one for dealing with crying women.

"I miss him so much. There have been times where I've wanted to be dead. Just so I can stop feeling so pathetic. How is it possible to love someone this much even after they've hurt you?"

"I'm not a love expert. I don't know what to tell you. Maybe this is more of a conversation you should have with Cordelia. You should call her, have a girl to girl talk about it."

"And what am I supposed to tell her? Oh, hey Delia, Jim murdered Tom and I know I should hate his guts. But I miss him so much I feel like dying, so I don't know what to do."

"Then maybe you should talk to Jim." Sebastian sighed, "I don't know what to say. I want to be able to help you, but I have no clue how to answer that." He seemed like he was grasping for something to say. "Don't kill yourself." was what he finally came up with.

"I'm not going to kill myself Sebastian." Molly used her sleeve to dab at her eyes. "And I can't talk to Jim. That's why I called you."

"I can't tell you what to do!" Sebastian yelled, "It's your choice, not mine. If you're as depressed as you say you are it seems like a fairly obvious choice to me."

"But how am I supposed to look him in the face knowing he did that?"

"You knew who he was when you dated him Molly. It's not like he hid it from you this time around You knew damn well who he was and that something bad could potentially happen."

"But he promised me he wouldn't hurt my friends."

"Tom wasn't your friend. He was an ex boyfriend who was trying to get back together with you. Couple that with you sneaking off and meeting Tom in secret and it's not that hard to do the math."

"So  _you_  think it's my fault too?"

"So do you. That's why you can't forgive him. Because it has very little to do with what Jim actually did, and everything to do with the fact that you feel personally responsible."

"I know I should have told him. But at the time it seemed so inconsequential. Why couldn't he have just talked to me first?" She was thinking aloud more than anything else, but Sebastian answered anyways.

"If you were dating some normal guy he probably would have just talked to you. But you decided to date Jim. You get what you sign up for."

She knew he was right, she hated it, but she knew it. She had a type, and that type didn't lend itself to normal happy relationships. Something was wrong with her. The mere fact that she hadn't moved on even slightly in the two months since Jim murdered Tom was proof enough.

"I need to go Molly. I need to meet Jim." He stood up and she walked him to the door.

"Thanks for stopping by. I know you didn't want to." Molly bit her lip as she met his eyes. "I hope you don't get in trouble."

"I'll be fine. If I have to lie, I'll say you thought someone broke into your apartment so you called me. Trust me, he still wants you safe."

"So he does still care." Molly stated. Sebastian looked like he might strangle her, but she couldn't pass up the joke. Jim had rubbed off on her in more ways than one.

"I think you should call him. Maybe you'd both be a little bit less miserable." was Sebastian's final bit of advice before he turned the corner and was out of sight.

So Jim was as miserable as she was. The thought both comforted and upset her. On one hand it meant that she wasn't crazy for still being depressed. But on the other hand it meant he was miserable because of her. And even with how mad she still was, it didn't comfort her knowing that.

Molly took out her phone and sighed. Here she was again. In the same position as she had been every other night. She was almost desperate to hear his voice at this point.

She was tempted to just blocked her number and hang up once he answered, it was juvenile for sure, but it was a classic. Knowing Jim he'd have a way to trace it, blocked number or not, and she'd be busted.

After a long time spent trying to talk herself out of it Molly decided to take Sebastian's advice. Taking a deep breath she dialed the familiar number and held the phone to her ear with shaking hands.

"Hello?" Molly practically sighed with relief once they answered.

"Hey Cordy, I'm glad you answered. I was wondering if you could come over for a girl's night tonight. I think I could really use one."

Even though she couldn't tell Cordelia the real reason why her and Jim broke up, her friend had been there for her since day one. She'd been a shoulder to cry on a few times, and had pretty much always been available, tub of Ben and Jerry's in hand.

"Aw, Molly." Cordelia's voice sounded sad, "You're still really missing him huh?"

"Yeah, unfortunately."

"Well, you know what. No. We're not doing a girl's night in. We're doing a girls night  _out_."

"No, I don't think so." Molly instantly protested. "That's not at all what I need."

"Yes it is! You just don't know it yet!" Cordelia answered immediately. "We've spent enough nights in moping about Jim. Now we're going to go out. You can flirt with some other guys and get the ego boost you need."

"I don't need an ego boost. I need ice cream." Molly whined.

"I don't want to hear any more protesting. We're going out, even if I have to force you into a cute dress and drag you out by your hair." With that her friend hung up, not even giving Molly another chance to protest. Molly flopped face down on her couch and groaned. That was the last time she took Sebastian Moran's advice.


	18. Chapter 18

"Come on, let's get you all dolled up." Cordelia said, grabbing Molly the second she was through the front door and dragging her towards Molly's bedroom.

"Delia, I really don't want to go out." Molly whined while Cordelia forced her to sit on the edge of her bed.

"Honey, you've moped over him for two months now. If you're not going to get back together with him you really need to start moving on." Cordelia's words were gentle, but Molly could tell it was something her friend had been wanting to tell her. Seeing the sad expression cloud Molly's features Cordelia attempted to cheer her up. "The best way to move on is a good rebound."

"I don't want a rebound. I've never been the rebound type." Molly held her hands up and shook her head. "I'm more the suffer in solitude type."

"Well, that's not really working for you right now. So let's try to mix it up tonight. For me?" Cordelia gave Molly a wide eyed hopeful smile causing Molly to give in.

"Fine. For you I'll give it a chance."

Cordelia grinned and clapped her hand's together excitedly. "Good! I brought a dress for you." She rooted through the black bag she had brought with her and pulled out what looked like a very tiny black dress.

"No." Molly answered immediately, "No way! That's a napkin, not a dress." The top of the dress was sheer, including sheer short sleeves, and a solid black collar. And then from her chest down it was opaque black with a tight sweetheart neckline into a flared out black skirt. It was very cute, but quite a bit shrorter than what Molly was used to.

"No, it's a very cute dress." Cordelia continued on unfazed. "And it doesn't show off that much of your body, but it's still sexy." When Molly still refused Cordelia reached into the bag and pulled out the dress she'd brought for herself. It was a black and pink color block dress with the top consisting of a V of black fabric with long sleeves that dipped into a blush pink skirt. "Your choice." Molly's jaw dropped as she stared at it. The skirt looked slightly longer, but the neckline plunged deep and wide, there was no hiding anything in that dress.

"Suddenly the first one looks perfect." Molly squeaked out, taking the dress from her. Molly put the dress on and was actually amazed by what she saw. "Wow." She breathed out, her hand stroking the soft black fabric. "I look pretty."

"Of course you do." Cordelia smiled, "You look gorgeous. I can put your hair up in a cute messy bun and do a simple cat eye. You'll look so cute."

"You look gorgeous." Molly complimented her friend. She wished she had even a quarter of the confidence her friend had.

"Thank you." Cordelia had Molly follow her into the kitchen and sit at a chair so she could do her makeup. By the time she was done fixing both of them up, Molly had to admit, she felt great. She hadn't felt this confident in a while.

"I haven't worn red lipstick since I went to Sherlock's christmas party and he made me look like an idiot. Plus, he always says my mouth looks too big." Molly laughed.

"I can't believe he said that to you." Cordelia looked annoyed, "You look fine. And your mouth is not too big."

"He doesn't mean it in a rude way, that's just how he is." Molly shrugged. "Should we get going?"

"Definitely. Come on." The girls slipped on their heels and Cordelia handed Molly a cute black jacket. It was like a fitted black trench that ended just below where her dress did.

"Thank you." Molly put on the coat, "I don't really have any coats that would look good with this dress."

"I figured, don't worry about it." Cordelia slung on her own black leather jacket and the two left to go hail a cab. Cordelia flagged a cab and followed Molly into the back seat.

After giving the driver the name of the club she turned back to Molly. "When did you get this." Cordelia motioned to Molly's bracelet from Jim.

"Um, Jim gave it to me for Christmas actually."

"I never noticed it before. It's gorgeous."

"I don't ever wear it to work." Molly admitted, flushing a bit, "I just started wearing it again. It made me too sad to wear it at first."

"That boy has impeccable taste, I'll give him that." Cordelia shook her head.

"That he does." Molly agreed with a small laugh. "So, do you just want to stay over at my place tonight?"

"Sure" Cordelia agreed, "Unless you get a cute boy to take you home instead." Cordelia's smile was instantly mischievous and she nudged Molly ever so lightly.

"Not going to happen, I already told you. I'll dress up and go out with you, but I'm drawing the line at having a one night stand."

"Well, you never know until it happens. But yeah, most likely I'll stay over at your place."

"Sounds good." Molly chose to ignore Cordelia's you never know comment. She knew very well that she wouldn't be bringing anyone but Cordelia home tonight, and she was sticking to it.

Cordelia covered the cab fare once they reached the club and managed to get them both in free by flirting with the bouncer. Though it probably helped that she'd told him Molly had just gotten dumped and was trying to have a night out to forget about her loser boyfriend.

"Now I look pathetic." Molly teased her friend once they were inside. "I'll have you know I was the one who broke up with him. Both times."

"If I'd told him that he wouldn't have let us in free. He would have pitied whatever poor bastard you dumped instead. Men have fragile little egos, they like to think they're the ones with the power."

"You're much better at this stuff than I am." Molly giggled, and Cordelia linked their arms together and pulled her to the dance floor. "Just relax and have fun." Cordelia instructed her, letting Molly's arm go. Molly nodded and copied the way her friend was dancing until she began to feel more comfortable.

The music was loud and easy to dance to, and Molly just had to keep reminding herself that there were enough people around that nobody was focusing on how bad her dance moves were. Once she let herself go a bit, she started having a lot of fun, even after some guys came up and asked if they could join them.

It was actually easier dancing with someone. With his hands placed on her hips, he guided her movements and made her feel less awkward. "I'm Chris." He smiled down at her as she turned to face him.

"Molly." She yelled back over the music, a genuine smile forming. Tall and toned, with pale blonde hair, he was definitely attractive. She allowed him to pull her closer to him, her heart racing in response.

This was the closest she'd been to any guy since Jim. The thought made her want to run and hide, but she forced herself to stay and give Chris a chance. It was over with Jim, she had to stop allowing him to creep into her thoughts any time she thought of anyone else.

In reality, she knew Chris was no match for Jim. He seemed very sweet, very stable. She was willing to bet he was a genuinely nice guy. Those were all things she should be drawn to, but instead she found herself bored.

Molly met Chris' eyes and forced a smile. She wasn't going to let herself mope over Jim, not tonight. She had promised Cordelia she would try to have fun, and if that meant giving Chris a chance she would. She had to stop comparing everyone to Jim and give them a chance for who they were. She knew she'd never find anyone comparable to him anyways.

"You there?" Chris asked her gently, his voice snapping her out of her thoughts.

"I'm so sorry." Molly apologized, her cheeks burning, "Did you say something?"

"I just wanted to know if I could buy you a drink."

"Sure, thank you." She let Chris take her hand and lead her out of the crowd, earning her a thumbs up from Cordelia.

"What would you like?" Chris asked her as he motioned for the bartender to come over.

"Rum and coke is fine." Molly said the first drink that came to her mind and almost wished she hadn't. Rum and cokes weren't her favorite drink.

"Always thought you were more of a vodka pineapple girl." Molly felt her heart drop to her feet at the familiar voice. She instantly let go of Chris' hand and spun around, coming face to face with Jim. She had to be hallucinating. Jim would never willingly be at a club like this.

When she closed her eyes and opened them again he was still there and she had to accept it was really happening. "Normally, you'd be right. I guess I'm just switching things up." She stammered out, suddenly tongue tied.

"Clearly." Jim shot a disdainful look at Chris, making it clear he wasn't talking about her drink anymore.

"Do you mind if I talk to my friend while you grab the drinks?" Molly turned back to Chris. "He's an old friend from college, and I haven't seen him in a while."

"Yeah, take your time." Chris shrugged and agreed, sizing up Jim in the process. Molly searched the crowd for Cordelia and sighed when she saw she was making out with Sebastian against the bar.

"Come on." Molly glared at Jim and dragged him to a less populated area of the bar.

"I always did love it when you took charge." Jim smirked, and sent butterflies twisting in Molly's stomach.

"Stop it. This is not a joke." Molly kept her voice stern, she wouldn't allow him to see he was flustering her. "Did you follow me here?"

"Believe it or not I don't follow you." He rolled his eyes, "I have more important things to do with my time than stalk my ex-girlfriend. I was actually very surprised to see you and Cordelia here."

"Yeah, well that makes two of us." Molly shot back, "So why are you here then?" She crossed her arms over her chest and waited. She wasn't sure she completely bought that he wasn't following her. It wouldn't be out of character for him.

"I'm meeting a client to discuss a few business opportunities. He owns this club, so here I am. Not stalking you."

"Oh." Molly's posture softened a bit and she uncrossed her arms. "Good."

Jim reached out and gently took her hand in his before she lowered it to her side. "You're still wearing my bracelet?" His tone betrayed his surprise.

"Of course I am, I love it." Molly answered slowly. His thumb idly stroked her wrist, and Molly hated the way her breath came out shaky and nervous.

It was such a simple touch, but it left her body practically begging for him. Jim let go of her hand and regained his own stiff posture. The absence of his touch felt unnatural to Molly and she fought the impulse to move closer to him.

"Good. I was worried you might have sold it or thrown it out." She could have sworn his breath caught ever so slightly before he regained control.

"I would never do that." She answered honestly, meeting his gaze. Neither of them spoke for a moment and Molly's willpower was beginning to fade.

"Look, you and Cordelia should go. Find a new bar to hangout for the rest of the night. Just in case."

"Just in case?"

"Business meetings always have the potential to go wrong. I'd feel better knowing you were out of harm's way." He spoke carefully, almost clinically, but Molly knew him too well. Even now he still wanted to protect her. The thought was actually quite comforting.

"Okay, I'll suggest it. Thanks."

"Sure." Jim shrugged and started to turn and leave when he turned back to face her. "You know, even now it kills me knowing such unworthy men get to see you looking so beautiful." His eyes raked over her, taking in the tiny black dress, and Molly was sure his eyes seemed to darken. Or maybe it was a trick of the light.

Either way the words sent her heart pounding in her chest. "Jealous?" She called after him. She wasn't ready for him to leave yet.

"Very." Jim answered honestly taking a few steps towards her again. Molly bit her lip and dug her nails into her palms. It was taking every ounce of strength she had not to close the gap between them and push him against the wall. She could picture it so vividly. His lips pressed hungrily against her own, one hand tangled in her hair, the other slipping under her dress. She snapped herself out of her daydream and took a deep breath to steady herself.

"Try not to kill anyone as a result." She fumbled for a response and grimaced at the crude joke she came up with. Why did she always have to say the worst possible things? Jim's mouth turned up into a small smile before allowing himself to grin at her. With a last shake of his head he disappeared into the crowd and Molly's legs practically turned into putty.

She couldn't even force a smile at Chris when he approached her with her drink. She was about to take a sip when Sebastian cast her a serious look and shook his head from behind Chris. Instantly setting it back down on the counter she reevaluated Chris. He'd seemed so nice, was she really that bad at judging people?

"Sorry." She spoke slowly, still thrown off by her talk with Jim. "I'm going to go over by my friend Cordelia. That wasn't my friend from college, that was my ex. I 'm still a bit of a wreck about it to be honest. I've got to go." She left him staring after her dumbly and Cordelia pulled her into a tight hug.

"Oh god, sweetie I'm so sorry." Cordelia squeezed her tightly and let her go.

"It's okay." Molly lied. She was feeling anything but okay. Seeing Jim had left her extremely turned on and sad, which was a very confusing combination. "Did he put something in my drink?" She turned her attention on Sebastian, who nodded yes.

"Seriously?" Cordelia looked as shocked as Molly did. "He seemed so nice." Molly nodded, glad she wasn't the only one to have thought that.

Sebastian scowled at both of them. "He did not seem nice. He seemed like a scumbag. You two are terrible judges of character." He pinched the bridge of his nose and cast them another disappointed look. "Don't worry, I'll deal with him."

"Seb was saying he hears Rocko's is pretty packed tonight. Want to head over there? It's close enough to walk over." Cordelia yelled over the music and Molly nodded.

"Yeah, why not?" Molly wasn't sure if Jim had told him to convince Cordelia, or if Seb just had the same concern as Jim. But either way, Molly was eager to take their advice.

Molly looked away and waited while Cordelia gave Sebastian a long kiss goodbye. "See ya Seb." Molly waved and the two picked up their coats from the coat check and headed outside.

The cold air was a welcome change from the humidity of the packed club. Cordelia linked her arm with Molly's and gave her an apologetic look. "I promise you I had no idea they were going to be there. It wasn't a setup or anything like that."

"Don't worry, I didn't think it was. It was just a really crazy coincidence." Molly shrugged, letting her thoughts drift back to her conversation with Jim. There had definitely been a hint of sadness in his voice when he'd dropped the mask a few times. And there was no denying that there was still a strong attraction between them. At least on her side.

"He looked good didn't he?" Molly asked with a small laugh.

"He looked more than good." Cordelia agreed instantaneously. Then after thinking a moment she made a face. "But not that good really. I'm exaggerating."

Molly laughed and pushed her friend gently. "No you're not. It's okay, he looked great. There's no point in denying it."

"Did it make you sad seeing him?"

"Yeah." She hesitated. "It reminded me exactly how much I miss him. I've done okay lying to myself about it, especially recently. But seeing him again… god, I miss him."

Cordelia squeezed Molly's arm gently. "It'll get easier eventually. You're tougher than you think. Believe me. Even the worst heartbreaks can't last forever."

Molly was about to thank her when she thought she felt someone staring at her. Spinning around quickly she didn't see anyone, but there was the unmistakable feeling like she was being watched.

"Everything okay?" Cordelia looked worried.

"Yeah… I think so. I felt like someone was following us." Molly admitted, searching the darkness still. Cordelia's eyebrows knit together and she looked around them warily. "I don't see anyone. I'm sure it's nothing."

"Come on, let's just get to Rocko's ." Molly pulled her friend after her and made them walk more quickly. They reached Rocko's and Molly turned to look behind her again, almost positive she saw someone quickly duck into an alley, but she wasn't sure.

Once they were inside the bar Molly allowed herself to relax again. "I don't know that I really feel like being out anymore." Molly admitted once Cordelia bought them their first round of drinks.

"Come on, just give it a little more of a chance. I know seeing Jim kind of messed up the night. But it can be salvaged."

"Molly took a large drink of her vodka pineapple and shrugged. "I guess we can try."

"That's my girl." Cordelia hugged her loosely. "Can we get two shots of Patron please?" She asked the bartender.

"I hope those are both for you."

"Yeah right." Cordelia laughed. "Trust me, the best thing to do when you're sad is to get completely drunk and forget about it for a few hours."

"You sound like an alcoholic." Molly replied, laughing along.

"Okay, it's the best thing to do so long as it only happens once in a while." Cordelia smirked.

"Much better." Molly giggled. The bartender set the shots I front of them and the two girls lifted them up.

"To moving on." Cordelia called and the two downed the shot.

"That's surprisingly smooth." Molly set the shot glass back on the bar and bit down on her lime. "I know, Patron is the only thing I like to do shots of." Cordelia agreed before ordering two more.

Two more shots and two vodka pineapples later and Molly was feeling a lot more outgoing. "You don't even understand Delia." She slurred, "It was so hard not to rip his clothes off right in that stupid club."

Cordelia was grinning ear to ear like a cheshire cat and nodding. "You should have done it Mol. C'est la vie."

"I'm not sure that's the correct use of that phrase." Molly laughed, leaning her head on her friend's shoulder. "Plus, I couldn't do that. He wouldn't even want me to do that."

"He wouldn't want you to rip his clothes off?" Cordelia raised an eyebrow at Molly. "Somehow I doubt that. We should go back. You should just go for it."

"No." Molly giggled and covered her face with her hands. "I think we should head to my place. I'm tired."

"That's no fun." Cordelia pouted. "You obviously want him back. Just let go, let yourself be happy."

"I'm happy here with you. And I'll be happy asleep in my bed."

"Okay fine. I'll call a cab." Cordelia gave in and dialed a cab company. "Ten minutes. Come on, let's just wait outside." Cordelia settled their tab and her and Molly walked outside, leaning against the stone wall of the bar while they waited.

"Thank you for taking me out tonight." Molly meant it. It may have started out rocky, but she had a lot of fun regardless. Especially considering she thought she'd have a miserable time.

"No problem, you know I'll take you out to cheer you up anytime. Hell, we can go out for no reason whenever you want. All you need to do is call." A cab pulled up to the corner and Cordelia helped Molly in. Molly was definitely a lot more drunk than her friend was. When she got in the cab she was convinced she still saw someone watching them from further down the block.

It gave her a seriously bad feeling. She'd never gotten a feeling like this before. Not even when Jim had been having people follow her that time. Maybe whoever was following her now wasn't as sneaky about it as Sebastian was.

Molly pulled Cordelia up to her apartment as quickly as she could, worried that whoever it was could have followed her home. "I'm going to go wash my face and get my pajamas on, then I'll help you." Cordelia told her and Molly nodded.

Taking out her phone she punched in Jim's familiar number and was glad when it went to voicemail. "Hello Jim." She attempted to sound seductive and instead burst into laughter. "It was nice seeing you tonight. It was sad. I think someone was following me. Not that you care. It happened twice. It was scary. I just wanted to hear your voicemail." Molly rambled on, "Crap, Cordelia is coming I need to go." She hung up and the phone slipped out of her hands.

"Were you calling someone?" Cordelia looked amused, "Was it Jim?"

"No." Molly denied far too quickly, shaking her head slowly. "I'm so tired."

"Come on, let's wash your makeup off and get to sleep." Cordelia helped her up and handed her a makeup remover wipe. Once Molly was in her pajamas the two girls climbed into Molly's bed to go to sleep.

"Goodnight Molly. I hope you don't regret that drunk call too much tomorrow." Cordelia told her with a final laugh.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Molly lied and closed her eyes, trying to sleep despite the way the bed felt like it was swaying beneath her. "Goodnight."


	19. Chapter 19

Molly was surprised by a hard knock on her door. Her head pounded in response and for what seemed like the tenth time that day she thoroughly regretted drinking last night. "One minute." She called out, which was met by more impatient knocking. "Hold on!" she yelled angrily, pulling the door open, ready to glare at whoever it might be.

She froze in place and her jaw dropped at the sight of Jim. "Why are you here?" the words came out far more cold than she had intended.

"I need to talk to you. Right now." He made it clear that he wasn't playing around and Molly moved aside to let him into her apartment. "What's this bullshit about how you think you were being followed last night?" He demanded the moment she closed the door behind him.

"Can you lower the volume a little?" She complained, "It's not bullshit. I'm almost positive someone was following Delia and I. Why would I lie?" She knew that drunk call was going to haunt her. She was hoping he'd have deleted it after listening to the first line of drunken nonsense.

Jim stared at her in disbelief and shook his head at her. "I don't think you're lying." He spoke as if she was an incompetent child. "It's bullshit because the second you thought it was happening you should have called me. I would have come immediately. You'd just seen me. I would have come as soon as you told me."

"I didn't think you'd care." Molly shot back, crossing her arms over her chest. She knew that was bullshit and that he cared, but he was being a jerk and she knew it would make him angry. "We're not together anymore. Plus, you were at a meeting."

"Are you stupid?" Jim screamed, his eyes flaring crazily.

"No, I'm not. You, however, are a much bigger jerk than I remember you to be." She couldn't tell if he wanted to scream or strangle her. Most likely both.

"I'll ignore that comment." He practically growled at her. "Of course I care if you're being followed, don't be dense. I care a fucking lot as a matter of fact!"

"Why?" Molly asked without thinking. She couldn't comprehend why he would even care anymore. She had broken up with him. He should want nothing to do with her. Why would he be concerned with whether or not she was being followed?

"Unbelievable." Jim sighed and buried his face in his hands, obviously exasperated with the conversation. "It doesn't matter if we're together Molly, I still love you. Which means, together or not, I'd rather you stay safe. And alive."

Molly felt her cheeks flush and it felt as if her heart dropped to her feet. She didn't know how to respond to that. She thought he'd have at least begun to move on by now. He wasn't one to hold on to emotions after all. She'd assumed he'd have begun to hate her. Even if he was still clearly attracted to her like she saw last night. "Sorry." She replied dumbly.

Jim softened his posture slightly and met her eyes. "You should be." He answered her, "You should know better than to think I'd not care suddenly. You should have called me right away." His tone was stern again, lecturing her.

"I didn't even think about it." She admitted, "I really didn't think it would be that important to you." What she meant was that she didn't think she'd be that important to him anymore.

"You're always going to be important to me." He spoke quietly, always uncomfortable with his feelings. He had always been so good at reading her real thoughts. "How do you know you're being followed?" He got back to business, the softness from a moment ago replaced by another one of his masks.

"After we left the club last night I just felt like someone was following me. I felt really uncomfortable, like when you can feel someone staring at you. But when I turned around I didn't see anyone. And when we reached the second bar I looked again and thought I saw someone duck into an alley." Molly explained. "Then when we left the second bar to go to my place I thought I felt someone staring at me again."

"Well thank fucking god you were hammered last night and drunk called me about it. Because clearly you would have been more content to get kidnapped and murdered than call me." Molly thought she detected a bit of hurt behind the clear anger of that statement. "I'm going to have Sebastian watching you again. At all times."

"How is he going to ever sleep if he's watching me at all times?" Molly crossed her arms over her chest again. She didn't want Sebastian following her around and suffering because of her. "Or have a life?"

"He can sleep while you're at work. And when I can I'll take over for him or have someone else I trust watching you. He won't be any use to me if he's tired and crabby all the time." Jim commented, relieving her worry. "I'll just make sure to always have someone watching you. At least until we figure out who was following you, and what they want."

"Thank you." Molly felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest.

"Please just… call me immediately next time. I don't care if you do hate me. Just call me. I'm always going to help you, no matter what."

"I don't hate you." Molly spoke quietly. "I thought you would hate me." She bit her lip and refused to make eye contact with him.

"I wish I could hate you." Jim admitted, "It'd make things easier."

"Things?" Molly felt the nervous pit forming in her stomach. She was wading into unfamiliar water, but she couldn't seem to stop herself.

Jim glared at her but answered anyways. "Missing you."

Molly looked up and locked her eyes with his own. Her chest felt like it was constricting and her eyes burned, threatening tears. She wasn't sure who made the first move, but in an instant she was in his arms, their lips moving desperately against each others. Jim cupped her chin in his hand, kissing her deeply. His lips were soft and warm against her own. She had forgotten the effect Jim could have on her, her knees felt as if they might give way at any moment. Moving his hand from her chin he wrapped both arms around her tightly, holding her to him as they kissed. When they were both breathless he met her eyes. "Are we doing this?" he asked her, needing her consent to continue.

"Yes." Molly answered immediately. She was done denying herself what she wanted, what she needed. She needed Jim. She loved him, and the thought of him walking out that door again was too much to bear. "I need you." That was enough for him and he pulled her back into his arms, seizing her mouth with his own and lifting her off of her feet.

He carried her into her bedroom, his mouth never leaving hers and laid her on her back in the middle of her bed. He pulled off his suit jacket and tossed it onto her dresser. Molly moved so she was kneeling on the edge of the bed and she reached up for him, undoing his tie and throwing it to her nightstand. Jim's eyes focused on hers, his breathing unsteady with anticipation. Molly slowly pulled her shirt over her head and dropped it to the floor. When Jim moved to reach for her, she held him back with one hand, reaching behind her with the other and unclasping her bra.

She enjoyed watching Jim stare at her impatiently, like he couldn't wait to devour her. She had missed him looking at her like that. She let her bra fall to the floor as well and in an instant Jim was on top of her, one arm guiding her back down onto her back. She reached up and began unbuttoning the cream dress shirt he was wearing, her fingers trembling in expectation. His mouth moved roughly against her own, biting her bottom lip and tugging it in his teeth as he pulled away.

He moved his head downwards, leaning in and closing his mouth around one of her nipples, his mouth warm and wet. His tongue moved against her, sliding and flicking, causing Molly to bite down on her lip in an attempt to control her moans.

Jim pushed her up so her head was laying on her pillows, pressing himself down on her. His mouth moved from one breast to the other, his strong fingers cupping and stroking the opposite. Removing his mouth the air seemed extremely cold on her exposed nipple and her body shivered slightly in response.

"Hold on love." Jim purred, leaning over her and kissing her slowly, his tongue parting her lips and teasing her just slightly before he pulled away again. He made quick work of tugging her jeans and underwear to her ankles and discarding them on the floor. His hands pressed her thighs apart and Molly moaned as his lips moved against her clit, sucking gently and leaving Molly unable to control herself, pushing her hips up ever so slightly.

Jim responded by moving more deeply, his tongue pressing inside of her. The feeling was overwhelming and Molly moaned loudly. Pulling away and flicking his tongue over her clit one last time he moved so he was positioned between her legs and guided himself into her with one strong thrust. Molly moaned quietly and ground her hips to meet each of his thrusts. Pulling out of her and leaving her gasping he laid beside her and pulled her to him so she was straddling him.

Molly grinned down at him and lowered herself slowly onto his erection. She braced her thighs and started to ride him, moving up and down slowly while circling her hips. She could feel the pressure building inside of her, almost overwhelming, and she knew she was close to orgasm. Jim reached up and laced his fingers with her own. His eyes meeting hers for a moment before he leaned his head back again, taking deep jagged breaths.

Molly reached orgasm first, and squeezed his hands tightly as she moaned and shuddered while she convulsed. She continued to ride him, the pressure building up again. By the time Jim reached his orgasm and arched into her with a loud moan, it was enough to cause her to come once more, leaving her almost limp from pleasure. She slid off of him, lying down beside him, taking deep breaths. Jim turned to her, kissing her once more, long and slow.

"That was incredible" He breathed, drawing in deep breaths. "God, look at us. We're such a cliche. Makeup sex and all."

Molly giggled and rolled her eyes, "I don't care what it makes us. I missed you." She finally admitted. She was struggling within herself, knowing she shouldn't forgive him this easily. But she couldn't hold on to this anymore. "I forgive you for Tom. I love you, and I know I made mistakes too. One condition though… promise me you will never hurt anyone I care about again."

She could tell he was caught off guard by her sudden admittance of forgiveness and he met her eyes, holding her gaze. He took her in, his angel, and knew even more concretely that he didn't deserve her, but he didn't care. She was his, and he wasn't going to let her go this time.

"I promise you. I won't do anything to hurt you again." Molly looked up at him with a small smile, but he could see the flash of hurt pass through her delicate features. "I'm sorry I hurt you before love. You were right, I shouldn't have killed Tom. I won't be stupid enough to lose you again."

Molly could tell he was being sincere and nodded, gratefully accepting another kiss. As he pulled her tightly into his arms, she felt an overwhelming rush of happiness. Closing her eyes, she laid her head on his bare chest, nuzzling into where his neck met his collarbone. Resting one arm lazily across his torso, she mumbled "I've missed this." Moving her leg so it was hitched over his own she continued, "Your arms feel like coming home again."

She smiled to herself despite how obviously corny the line was. She meant it. She finally felt like things had returned to normal lying here with Jim.

She felt him kiss the top of her head and he brushed some stray hairs away from her face. "Are you falling asleep on me?" He teased her. Yawning, Molly nodded. "I haven't slept well in months." She confessed, "Can you please stay tonight?"

She had no idea if he had plans, or work to do tonight. She knew that just because it was late didn't mean he was done with work for the day. Jim was never truly done with work. But she wanted him to stay more than anything.

"Of course I'll stay." His answer put her immediately at ease. Suddenly feeling playful Molly gently bit his neck, sucking just a second before planting a lazy kiss where she'd bitten him.

Looking up and meeting his eyes she smiled again and bit her lip. "Think you can go for round two before we go to sleep?" She moved her hand so it slid over his cock, feeling it grow hard beneath her hand as she stroked him.

"Love, I could go for round three, four and five." He answered immediately, his hands already roving her body again.

"I don't doubt that." She giggled as he pinned her beneath him on the bed, pushing his hips to meet her own and teasing her as he took her lip between his teeth again.

"Want me to prove it?" His voice was husky next to her ear and Molly shivered with excitement. "After all, all of your marks are gone now. And I have to do something about that don't I?" He grazed his teeth just above her collarbone and bit and sucked just hard enough to leave a small mark.

He kissed her again, his hands holding her tightly against him. She barely was able to get out a "Yes please" before Jim happily obeyed.


	20. Chapter 20

"I can't believe you need to leave for two weeks. We just got back together." Molly walked over to where Jim was sitting on the couch and straddled him, pushing her bottom lip out in a pout. It had been exactly one week since they'd agreed to get back together and this morning he'd told her that he would be gone for two weeks. Starting tomorrow morning.

Jim rolled his eyes at her but planted a soft kiss on her lips, lingering before pulling away again. "I'm slightly more concerned about not being here to protect you than I am about you missing me love." He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and forced a small smile. "I think you can manage without me for two weeks."

Molly sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "You know, sometimes I hate you." She said as she continued to pout. She just wanted him to tell her how much he'd miss her. She was shamelessly digging for compliments, and getting nothing from him.

"I know you do." He laughed and grinned as if she'd paid him a compliment. "But you don't ever stay mad at me."

"So you're not going to miss me at all?"

"It's only two weeks." He rubbed his hands up and down her arms as if warming her up and then shrugged. "We've been apart for the last couple of months, two weeks will seem like nothing." He tried to pull her in for a kiss but she pulled away and moved so she was beside him on the couch rather than on top of him.

His eyes widened and an amused smile played across his lips. Taking it as a game he lunged towards her and Molly couldn't help the small giggle as she jumped off the couch to run from him.

He easily caught her and pulled her tightly into his arms. "You know I'm only teasing you." He gave in. "Of course I'll miss you."

"You better." She shot back, trying to keep from smiling and failing.

Jim leaned down and kissed her, his hand gently cupping the side of her face. "Why can't someone else go instead of you?" Molly tried to convince him once the kiss ended. "I thought you liked to keep a distance from your clients. That way no one can get to you."

"I do." He admitted easily. "But these are high priority clients. They won't work with me unless they meet me and decide they can trust me."

"You'll be safe though? Right?"

"As safe as my job allows me to be."

"Is Sebastian going with you?" Molly was sincerely hoping the answer was yes. Sebastian was the only one of Jim's workers Molly truly trusted to protect him if it came down to saving themselves or Jim. To be fair she didn't know any of his other workers.

She'd met Vin the other day when Jim introduced them. But he'd only introduced him to her because he'd be watching her when Seb needed a break and Jim couldn't. He'd seemed like a decent enough guy for a criminal. But she didn't trust him the way she trusted Sebastian.

"No. Sebastian is staying here to watch you. I trust him to keep you safe while I'm gone. I wouldn't take the chance to leave anyone else with you when I won't be around at all to check on you myself."

"Absolutely not." Molly argued immediately. "I want Seb going with you. If he's the only one you really trust then he should be the one keeping you safe. I haven't even seen anyone following me this past week. I'm sure I'm fine."

"It's not up for debate, pet. Sebastian works for me. And his orders right now are to watch you and make sure no one so much as lays a finger on you in my absence. Vin and Ranger will be with me."

"Vin and Ranger won't protect you like Sebastian would."

"Sure they will." Jim shrugged it off and smiled down at her. "They both know that if anything happens to me that Sebastian will kill every member of their families. Everyone has a pressure point. Family is usually a good place to start."

As awful as she knew she should find that it was strangely comforting. She wasn't sure exactly when her moral compass had stopped pointing true north and she had come to only care about Jim's well being, but she thought it best not to dwell on it too much."Fine." She sighed, giving in to defeat. She knew she had no say in the matter, it was pointless to continue arguing.

"I'd appreciate if you let Sebastian stay here with you while I'm gone. I told him he could sleep on your couch. I assumed it wouldn't be a problem."

"And how do I explain to my best friend why her fuck buddy is staying at my place for two weeks?" Molly grimaced at the crude words, but they were the only ones that fit Cordelia and Sebastian's relationship.

"I really don't care how you explain it. Or don't explain it. She doesn't need to know he's staying here at all. He'll live without getting laid for two weeks. So will she."

"Someone's just bitter because he won't be getting laid for two weeks." Molly shot back with a smirk.

Jim cast her an annoyed look. "Who says?" He raised an eyebrow at her with a smug smile. Molly punched his arm as hard as she could and glared at him. "The hell you will."

Jim laughed and kissed her hard, as if he wanted to devour her. "You're too easy to rile up. Though I do love it." He stared down at her, lust clear in his eyes. "You know damn well I would never cheat on you."

"You better not. Because I  _will_  kill you. Good girl image and morals be damned."

"God, I love you." Jim grinned down at her.

"You're screwed up." Molly replied, but she gave in to a laugh as well. "But I love you too."

"So can I tell Seb he can stay here then?"

"Yeah, of course. I don't know how much he'll enjoy sleeping on my couch though."

"He's slept on worse, trust me. Much worse."

"I'll just let him share my bed with me." Molly decided to give Jim a taste of him own medicine since he though it was so adorable to tease her.

Jim's eyes flashed with anger immediately and he stared down at her with cold eyes. "If you want me to kill both of you then go ahead."

Molly rolled her eyes and smiled up at him. "Gosh, you're so easily riled up. I love it." Molly mimicked him from before and giggled.

"Wow, you're hilarious Mol." Jim pretended to laugh and shook his head at her.

"My couch it is." She returned to the topic at hand. "Sounds like a plan."

"Good, I'm glad to get that out of the way." She watched as mischief lit up his features. "Now we can move on to more interesting business."

Biting her lip Molly met his eyes and pretended to be surprised. "Do I want to know what this business is."

"Well, I need to punish you for that little joke about Seb don't I?" He spoke quietly his mouth centimeters from her ear. Pushing her gently backwards until she hit the wall, he traced his lips along her jaw.

Molly's breathing came out shaky as he trailed his lips down her chest, unbuttoning one button of her blouse with each kiss. "Tell me you've been a bad girl." He growled, moving next to her ear again and pushing his hips into her own.

"I've been very bad." Molly played along, her voice breathy. "I think you do need to punish me." Jim's lips spread into a wide cheshire cat smile as he looked down at her. His fingers skillfully undid and removed his belt and he let it fall to the floor beside them.

"You don't want to use that?" Molly looked down at the belt, surprising herself by her own boldness. Jim stared at her in silent disbelief for a moment before regaining his composure.

"Do I want to use that?" He responded, making it clear he was asking for her consent despite it being her idea.

"I think you should." She answered slowly, "You should probably tie me up. After all, you're supposed to be teaching me a lesson."

Jim reached down and picked up his belt again. Grabbing her hands he pulled his belt through so it held her wrists together tightly, looping it so it wouldn't come undone.

"Come on." He pulled on the belt so she followed behind him to her bedroom. He lifted her easily and tossed her on her bed, lifting her bound wrists above her head. He undid her jeans and pulled them and her underwear off, letting them drop to the floor at the end of her bed.

He unzipped his pants and stepped out of them, watching her from where he was standing at the end of the bed. She watched as he rolled on a condom and then climbed so he was on top of her on the bed.

"I'm going to teach you a very valuable lesson young lady." His voice was thick with lust as he mumbled against her lips. His lips pressed against hers, kissing her deeply, his tongue moving against her own, pulling her tongue into his own mouth.

As he kissed her his fingers pushed inside of her, his palm moving skillfully against her. She moaned against his lips and he pushed against her in response, his need obvious. She wanted to reach for him, pull him closer to her, but she left her hands bound above her head. She wanted to enjoy this game with him, it was clear he was enjoying it. But it was so hard not to touch him.

"You want to touch me?" He taunted, reading her mind like always. Molly nodded slowly and he smirked. "Good." He moved so he positioned himself so he was on his knees between her legs and guided himself easily inside of her, pulling her hips up to meet his.

The way he was positioned he moved deeply inside of her and Molly already let out a loud moan. "Are you going to miss this?" He asked her with a grin, thrusting his hips slowly, teasingly.

"Yes." She barely breathed out the word, closing her eyes and arching her back. She circled her hips to meet each of his thrusts, and with her eyes closed she could hear his breathing getting heavier, moans escaping between every few breaths.

"I want you." She breathed out, opening her eyes and making eye contact with him. She watched his eyes darken and he bit his lip. Speeding up his thrusts she could feel the pressure starting to build up and she knew she was close to coming. "I'm almost there."

He gripped her waist so he could thrust more deeply into her and after a few more thrusts he felt her tighten around him as she climaxed. As she came he reached his own climax leaning down so he was on top of her. He took deep breaths, trying to recompose himself and ran a hand through his hair as he sat back up, pulling out of her and discarding the condom.

He put on his boxers and climbed back onto the bed, unbinding her hands as soon as he did, and lying next to her on her bed. "How can you possibly think I wouldn't miss you?" He smiled as he met her eyes and she couldn't help smiling back. "I know you'll miss me." She laughed, "I just wanted to hear you say it."

"That's my Molly. Always fishing for compliments." He shook his head at her as if he disapproved. "Any time you start to get sad just think of that. And know that when I'm back the first thing I'm going to do is rip your clothes off."

"I can't wait." She giggled, "I just wish I didn't have to wait two weeks for you to come back."

"I know love. But that's my business. Sometimes it just works out that way."

"I know." She kissed him quickly. "Just make sure you call me every night before bed so I know you're safe. I can live without sex. I'm honestly just worried about you."

Jim smiled sadly and ran his thumb over her lips while he thought. "I know you're worried about me. But I've done this thousands of times, I'll be okay. I promise you in exactly two weeks I'll be outside your front door with a bouquet of black and white roses, and I'll be perfectly safe."

Molly grinned immediately at the thought. He always got her black and white roses. Black to represent himself, and white to represent her, he'd told her the first time he gave them to her. "Okay." She nodded. "But you  _will_  call me every night?"

"Every night." He agreed.

"Fine." She said, giving in. Climbing out of bed she slipped on some pajamas and slid in next to him under the covers. Staring into her eyes, he shook his head and smiled at her. Every now and then he still couldn't believe she loved him as much as she did.

"I'll even try to Skype you when I can. That way I can see your beautiful face when I talk to you." Molly's face lit up at his compliment and she nodded.

"I'd like that." She answered simply, her voice sleepier now that it was getting late. Jim pulled her against him, so he was spooning her and she laced her fingers with his own as he held her. "Goodnight Jim." She spoke quietly, "Don't leave in the morning without saying goodbye."

"I won't." He answered, closing his eyes. "Goodnight Mols, I love you."

"Love you too." She mumbled as sleep overtook her. She always fell asleep so easily when Jim held her. The next two weeks were going to be torture.


	21. Chapter 21

"So everything has been going well with Sebastian then I take it? You haven't killed each other yet?"

"Yeah, things have been great. As you saw from that lovely photo we got nice and drunk the other night."

Molly grinned at the sound of Jim's laughter on the other end of the phone. "Yes, I did notice that. What were you guys doing? Just seeing who could drink more? Because Sebastian is going to win that one every time love."

"No, that's definitely not what we were doing." Molly replied with a laugh. "I'm well aware he could drink me under a table. He finished most of the bottle and didn't even seem buzzed. We just watched movies and talked, no big deal."

"What movie?"

Molly giggled and had a hard time answering for a moment. "I made him watch Thankskilling." She kept her promise to Sebastian and didn't give away that he loved crappy horror movies.

"Good lord Molly. How could you do that to poor Sebastian?" She could hear the disappointment in Jim's voice and it only made her laugh harder. "That fucking Turkey movie. I just don't understand you Hooper."

"And sometimes I think you're a stick in the mud Moriarty." She purposely used his last name to make fun of him. He was always calling her Hooper, or Miss Hooper and she secretly loved it, but she always gave him crap for it.

"That's one thing I've never been accused of."

"Well, there's a first time for everything."

"I'm glad I'll be home in a few days, I miss you."

"You're so cheesy." Molly giggled and smiled to herself. "I miss you too. Thank goodness it's only two more days."

"I promise we'll lock ourselves in one of our apartments for at least three days when I'm back. Clothing optional."

"I  _do_  have work you know." She hated that he could make her blush. But at least for once he couldn't see it.

"And you can call off. They adore you, you won't get in trouble."

"Maybe. I'm not promising." She replied, trying her hardest to remain stubborn. She knew she would give in the moment she saw him. But over the phone she was much better at refusing him. "I have to go though, it's time for me to get back to work."

"Alright." Jim's voice took on his whining tone and Molly shook her head. "I'll talk to you later."

"Love you."

"Love you too." Jim replied and Molly hung up, heading back to the morgue. Seb was hanging out in the morgue when she returned and she raised one eyebrow at him curiously.

"What are you doing here?"

"Watching you." He shrugged, putting his phone back into his pocket. "I got tired of waiting around outside the hospital. It's starting to get old."

"I'm Sorry." Molly instantly felt guilty. She had never really considered how boring it probably got having nothing to do except trail her for over a week.

"Don't apologize." Seb waved away her apology, "I just figured it's more effective if I'm in here. I can't really tell if you're okay from a building across the street."

"Fair enough. I bet you can't wait for Jim to get back so you can be free for a while."

Sebastian laughed, his mouth curving into a huge smile. "I'm never free when Jim's around. He always needs me for something."

"That's a fun way to live." She quipped, walking over to the body on her table.

"I read your notes." He motioned to her clipboard. "You missed something."

"Did not." She turned on her heels to face him. "I checked everything."

"Inside the mouth."

Molly shook her head at him but turned back to the body. Putting on her gloves she opened his mouth, peeking inside to find a poppy flower shoved into his throat. "You have to be kidding me." She complained, carefully removing the flower and placing it beside the body. Turning to face Sebastian again she crossed her arms over her chest. "How did you know that?"

"It's the sign of Amir Markoff's assassins. I worked for him for a time. That was before I worked for Jim. I'd recognize their work anywhere."

"So you didn't even look? You just knew?"

He shrugged and nodded. "Yeah. Your report said he was killed by an accidental overdose. But there are almost no track marks on his arms." Sebastian walked over and pointed out that there were only three marks on his arm. "Those are all from the same day. I guarantee that. If you do x-rays on the body you'll see he was actually smothered to death. Most likely with a pillow so as not to leave any marks."

"The toxicology reports guaranteed that it was a heroin overdose."

"And I'm guaranteeing that Amir Markoff had him killed. He probably double crossed him in some way. He doesn't hand out orders for assassinations very often."

"Well, thank you. I'll note that the flower was in there. Now I feel like a total moron."

"Don't. Your mind was on other things. Like calling Jim." Sebastian smirked, clearly teasing her.

"Oh shut up." She took off one of her latex gloves and smacked him on the arm with it.

"Molly Hooper." Molly jumped at Sherlock's deep baritone as he entered the morgue with a sing song voice.  _Crap_. She'd forgotten she'd told him he could come pick up some body parts he'd asked her for. He wanted them for some kind of tests. They were way above her head and she'd totally forgotten what he'd said.

"Oh, Sherlock. I'm sorry it completely slipped my mind that you were coming by tonight."

Sebastian cast her a look and then smiled at Sherlock as Sherlock sized him up. "Is this your boyfriend?" Sherlock asked her, not addressing Sebastian directly.

"Oh… uhm… yes." Molly added quickly, panicking slightly. "Sherlock this is Jameson. Jameson this is Sherlock." Molly silently willed Sebastian not to laugh at her codename for Jim. Judging by the discreet look he shot her, she was definitely going to hear about it later.

"Nice to meet you." Sherlock didn't sound very sincere but he shook Sebastian's hand. "Do you have the parts?"

"Of course, come on I'll take you to get them." She motioned for Sherlock to follow behind her and practically sprinted out of the morgue. She didn't think Sherlock had ever seen Sebastian, but she didn't want to risk Sherlock somehow remembering he'd seen him before and connecting the dots. Knowing Sherlock, if he had seen him it was saved someplace within his mind palace. Better to not risk it and get him in and out.

* * *

"I have some hard news to break to you." Sebastian spoke as soon as Jim answered.

"What? Is Molly okay?" Jim asked immediately, his tone both angry and concerned.

 _Oh, this was going to be perfect._ Sebastian knew he shouldn't mess with Jim, but it was just too easy sometimes. "Molly's fine." He replied, "It's… uhm…. It's about her though."

"Spit it out Sebastian, I don't appreciate this pussy footing you're doing. You know I hate waiting."

"This is really hard for me to say because you know how much I respect you. But it was inevitable. Molly and I are in love, she's just introduced me to Sherlock as her boyfriend. We didn't want to hurt you, but you can't help who you fall in love with."

"You fucking bastard. Just wait until I get back." Jim hissed into the phone, "You're a regular laugh riot 'Bastian."

"Oh relax." Sebastian laughed heartily, having to catch his breath before he spoke again. "It was too funny to pass up. She really did introduce me to him as her boyfriend though. He popped by the morgue while I was there and I think she panicked." He laughed again. "Apparently I'm her boyfriend Jameson."

"Jameson? Are you joking?" Jim burst into laughter and Sebastian couldn't help but join in. "Her codename for me is fucking Irish whiskey? Good lord."

"Do you realize how hard it was for me not to burst into laughter?"

"Good job Sebastian. I'm very proud of you." Jim's voice was obviously sarcastic, but they both laughed again anyways. "Well, I appreciate you calling to inform me of yours and Molly's torrid love affair, but I have work to do."

"Thanks for being so understanding boss." Sebastian replied with a grin, putting his phone away once he heard the click signaling Jim had hung up on him.

* * *

Sebastian hung out around the morgue until it was time for Molly to head home. "You know, I don't think the world would end if you popped over to Cordelia's for a few hours. We haven't even noticed anyone following me for weeks."

"I can't do that." Sebastian responded immediately, though she could hear in his voice that he wanted to.

"You haven't seen her in almost two weeks. It'll be our secret."

"No way. It's my head on the line if something were to happen to you."

Molly rolled her eyes and sighed as she put on her coat. "Fine, I guess you only have two more days anyways. We should probably take separate cabs home though like usual."

"Yeah, better for whoever's following you to think you're on your own. Then we can find out who they are and gut them."

"That's a lovely picture." Molly laughed. "Come on. You can walk me to the front door."

Sebastian nodded and took a cigarette out, putting it in his mouth so he could light it once they got outside. "I'll see you back at the apartment." He nodded at her and held open the front door of the hospital for her, making sure to be ten steps away from her at all times. Molly waved down a cab and the driver pulled up to the curb beside her. Looking down to light his cigarette he glanced back up just in time to see someone pull Molly into the cab.

It happened so fast he'd have thought he imagined it, he wished he'd imagined it. Running at the cab he grabbed the handle, finding it locked. He met Molly's eyes through the back window and felt the pull of panic in his gut as he saw how scared she looked. The cab's tires shrieked as the car sped away from the curb. Pulling his pistol from the waistband of his jeans he fired at the cab, aiming for the tires and missing as it raced around the corner. Sebastian made to memorize the license plate. Writing it down, he immediately called Jim.

He was a fucking dead man. He'd had one job. Protect Molly Hooper at all costs. He'd followed her everywhere she went for two weeks, and in one second all that caution had been thrown away. He'd lost her. He was a dead man.


	22. Chapter 22

Molly had no idea what was happening as she was pulled into the back seat of the cab. Understanding dawned on her once she saw Seb's wide panicked eyes. Taking a deep breath she thrashed against the person holding her down, using the back of her head to hit them hard in the face.

"Fuck." A female voice cried out in pain and hit Molly hard in the back of the head. "Behave yourself, or I'll kill you right here in the back of this cab." The woman's voice hissed next to her ear, pulling Molly's head back by her hair. "Understand?"

Molly nodded, fear gripping her body in an almost paralyzing sensation. Struggling to breathe, she took deep unsteady breaths. "Why are you doing this to me? What do you want?" Molly could feel the hard press of a gun to her side. They weren't messing around, whoever had her meant business.

She'd never been this scared in her life. Her heart felt like it would seize up in her chest if she didn't try to calm herself. "You'll find out soon enough. So shut up and enjoy the ride." A blindfold came down over her eyes and the world went black. She could make out a small sliver of vision from the bottom of the blindfold and she carefully observed it, desperately attempting to keep track of anything that looked familiar.

Eventually the busy streets of the city disappeared into a more industrial part of town. From the small gap in the blindfold, she watched as the streets became dirtier and more desolate; the sidewalks empty of people.

What felt like an eternity later, the car came to a stop and Molly was pulled out of the car roughly, the woman still holding a grip on her hair. With her body shaking, and her legs barely holding her up, Molly stumbled, earning her a kick and the command to walk faster.

Wherever she was, it smelled wet and faintly moldy. She was set down on a chair and her hands were pulled behind her back and secured by what felt like zip ties. The woman removed her blindfold and her eyes adjusted to her surroundings. She was in what looked like an abandoned warehouse. And in front of her were two people. One was a man, maybe in his late forties, the other a young woman who looked to be about Molly's age.

Molly was struck by how familiar the man looked and she focused on him, desperately racking her brain for why he looked so familiar.  _You know him_ , she willed herself,  _think Molly, think._ And that's when it hit her. She  _had_  seen him before. "You… I've met you before. W-why are you doing this?"

* * *

"What?!" Jim screamed into the phone, predictably upset by the news Seb had just given him. Sebastian removed the phone from his ear as a steady stream of curses were shouted at him. He knew he deserved all of this. But he could hear the insults just fine without them making him deaf in the process. "If this is another joke I'm not amused Sebastian. You better stop right now while you're behind."

Sebastian felt his stomach drop, it felt like he was going to puke. "I'm not joking Jim. I don't know how it happened, I was right there next to her. She was going to take a cab home and I was going to take the next one and meet her there. Same as we always have, because you and I agreed we didn't want anyone knowing she was being watched by us."

"And someone grabbed her and pulled her into a cab? Why the hell didn't you shoot the tires out, even shoot out the back window. Anything to stop them from getting her?! We have no idea who's following her or what could be happening to her right now!"

"I couldn't shoot out the back window without putting Molly directly at risk."

"You're a god damn sniper Sebastian. You're telling me you couldn't aim away from her? Or hit the fucking tires?"

"I was panicking. It's a little different having to shoot out the tires of a car in the heat of the moment and getting a target lined up with a sniper's rifle. I'm so sorry. I know I fucked up, I know you're going to kill me."

"I don't have time for this right now. I'll be back in a few hours and we'll do everything we can to find Molly. Just hope we find her fast Sebastian." The threat was clear in that sentence, but Sebastian didn't care. All he cared about was the look in Molly's eyes as the cab pulled away. He'd failed her even more than he'd failed Jim. He knew what it was like being someone's prisoner, and he knew Molly wasn't cut out for that.  _Please let us find her. Not for my sake but for hers. If there's a person in this world who doesn't deserve this it's her. Please._

* * *

Jim hung up the phone and grabbed the lamp off of his desk ripping the cord out of the socket and throwing it against the wall. Anger and fear were warring inside of him. One familiar sensation and one he hadn't felt since he was a child and his father would come after him. Burying his face in his hands he rubbed at his eyes and forced himself not to cry. Crying would be admitting defeat and he wouldn't do that.

He would find Molly even if he had to kill every person in London to get the answers he needed. Removing his hands from his face, he clenched his fists tightly; his nails digging into his palms until he bled. Taking deep breaths to gather himself, he focused on the pain.

Molly  _would_  be okay. He couldn't even consider any other outcome.  _If I lose her…_  He smacked himself across the face, the blood from his palm leaving a wet imprint across his cheek as he shut down any more thoughts like the last.

He had to get back to London. He knew whose help he would need. It wouldn't be easy convincing them to work with him. But once they knew what had happened they'd help him immediately. He  _would_  find Molly, and whoever had taken her was going to pay.

"Get the plane ready, we need to be back in London immediately" He ordered Ranger, who quickly scrambled to do as he was told. He was already planning some new methods to ensure they would pay in deliciously awful ways. Whoever had taken her was going to wish they had never been born. He would make sure of it.


	23. Chapter 23

"You were outside of the bar that night Jim and I got into a fight." Molly watched as the man broke into a wide smile. Clapping he nodded his head, "Impressive. I didn't think you'd remember me."

"You tried to help me." Her heart sank at the way he looked at her. "Why are you doing this? I don't even know you."

He walked towards her and cupped her face in his hand. Molly flinched away from his grip and noticed the woman moved towards her as she did. "Relax Zoe. I've got this." The man commanded her and the woman, Zoe, walked back to where she had been.

"I wish I didn't have to do this to you." The man's voice sounded genuinely sorry. It only served to make Molly more terrified for what he had in store for her. "Why would you be with someone like Jim Moriarty? It doesn't make sense. You seem like a sweet, intelligent girl. Why be with a man as foul as he is?"

"Please, I don't know anything about what he does. I swear." Molly pleaded with him, willing him to listen and realize she was telling the truth. If he wanted information about Jim's business she didn't know anything.

"Shhh." He whispered, "I'm not looking for information. This is personal. You see… your boyfriend took someone I love from me. So now it's my turn to take something he loves from him. Do you see my dilemma?" the man sighed, "I followed him for months after his little stunt on TV. It took a lot of work to get to him, but once I did it became glaringly obvious there was only one thing he seemed to be emotionally attached to… you. That night outside the bar, the way he reacted. It proved everything I needed to know."

Molly felt her whole body start to tremble and bit her lip as hard as she could to hold back tears. "Please don't do this. I don't know what he did, but please… I have nothing to do with this."

"You have everything to do with this. He needs to feel the loss I felt. And unfortunately that means I have to hurt you. I'm sorry, Molly." He met her eyes and frowned. "You know those bombings a few years ago? In one of them an old woman was killed. That was my mother.  _Your_  boyfriend strapped explosives to my blind mother's chest and let her suffer in fear for hours. And then he blew her up. You don't know what it's like to find out your mother was murdered. You don't know how it feels to not be able to say goodbye, see her face one last time. We had to have a closed casket funeral because there wasn't any trace of her left."

"I'm so sorry." Molly replied, tears streaming down her face.

"I thought he'd died when the papers reported Sherlock Holmes had committed suicide and that Richard Brook really was James Moriarty. I was content knowing he was rotting in hell somewhere. Then he pulled that stunt announcing he was back and I knew I had to get my revenge. It was fate giving me my chance to get retribution for my mother."

"I'm sure your mom was an amazing person. She wouldn't want you to hurt me." Molly cried out as he backhanded her hard across her face. "Don't speak about my mother. Bringing her into this won't save you." Molly could feel the blood running from her nose, could taste it on her lips. She couldn't help it, she burst into panicked sobs.

"Please…" She screamed, "Please don't do this."

"Zoe, get started." The man ignored Molly and walked away, leaving the two girls alone.

The smile that spread across Zoe's features was chilling. Molly could tell there was at least traces of humanity in the man's eyes. When she met Zoe's eyes there was nothing but empty rage.

Zoe crossed over to Molly and smiled down at her. "He might be sorry, but I personally can't wait to torture you." She grabbed Molly's face and forced her to meet her eyes. "Just know that I'm going to enjoy every tear you shed, every scream you make."

"What did I ever do to you?" Molly choked out, earning a tighter hold from Zoe. Molly winced and bit her lip, trying to fight back the pain as Zoe's nails dug into her face.

"Well, for one thing it was my grandma he blew up." She glared down at Molly. "But more importantly, he killed my fiancé." She held up her left hand and Molly felt her stomach sink to the floor. "Recognize the ring?"

Molly would know that engagement ring anywhere. It was Tom's grandma's engagement ring. The same one he'd proposed to her with. "Tom… Tom was your fiancé?"

"You bet he was." She laughed, an utterly empty and humorless laugh. "You probably thought he really wanted to be back with you. But in reality he was working with us to try to kidnap you. And he would have at that first lunch you met him for if you hadn't ran off so rudely." Molly heard a click but couldn't see where it came from at the angle Zoe was holding her face up.

"Tom wouldn't do that."

"Wouldn't he? You left him because you couldn't get over your pathetic crush on Sherlock. You didn't even treat him very well. It wasn't that hard convincing him to help us once he found out you were dating James Moriarty. After a while Tom and I fell in love. And then your wonderful boyfriend murdered him, all because he was jealous."

"Good. I'm glad Jim murdered him if he was going to help you kill me." Molly shot back at her. Zoe smiled and licked her lips. Molly gasped as a sharp pain shot through her side. Molly screamed as the pain shot up her side, shocking herself at the volume of her screams as Zoe twisted the knife that was still in her side.

"Keep talking, it'll only make this all the more satisfying." Molly gasped for air, unable to battle down the pain as it washed over her. "Oh don't tell me you're going to go into shock already." Zoe stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. "You're no fun. Be sure you get this Brian, this is great stuff." Molly noticed the man had come back and was holding up a tablet, recording the scene.

"What are you doing?" Molly asked between gasps for air. Zoe punched her, sending Molly's head jerking to the right and then immediately hit her again, sending her head jerking back to the left.

"Say hello to Jim. We're making sure he'll see all of this live as it happens." Brian walked up to her and turned the tablet so she could see Skype was up and Jim was on the other end of it.

"No…" Molly closed her eyes, "Please. Don't make him watch this." She felt the world begin to spin and knew she was going to throw up. "Please, you can torture me, but don't make him watch me suffer."

"What would be the fun in that sunshine?" Zoe giggled, "Now say hi to your boyfriend. Tell him how much fun you're having." Zoe grabbed the tablet from Brian and held it up to Molly's face.

"Jim, I'm so sorry." Molly choked out. She couldn't imagine the pain Jim must be feeling having to watch this. Molly felt the tip of the knife press into her throat. "Molly, I'm going to find you. Hold on baby, please, hold on." She could hear his voice.

"That's not what I told you to tell him." Zoe threatened her.

"H-Hi Jim. I'm having a… a l-lot of fun."

"Stop this right now and I won't kill you!" She heard Jim screaming.

"We'll be in touch Mr. Moriarty. Keep your phone on you. We'll be busy having fun with your dear Molly in the mean time." Brian grinned into the camera, "I'll enjoy taking the one thing you love from you. But I'll enjoy you watching it happen even more." He made like he was going to end the Skype call and then laughed, bringing it back up again. "Oh, and if you  _don't_ watch. She'll die more painfully than you can imagine." With that he closed the call and made his way back over to Molly. "My turn."

* * *

Jim hesitated outside of the familiar building for only a second before he burst through the front door and up the stairs. Finding the front door locked he pounded on the door until the owner swung it open, causing him to practically fall through the door.

" _You_." Sherlock glared at him. "I was wondering when you'd come by here again." Sherlock smiled and crossed his arms over his chest. After a moment of staring at Jim his smile dropped and he studied him more carefully. "Jim? What's wrong with you? You look awful."

"I need your help. Whether you agree to help me or I have to threaten to kill everyone you love you're going to help me. One way or another." Jim pushed past Sherlock and made a beeline for Sherlock's chair. The world felt like it was slipping out from under him again. He had to get control of himself. He'd never be able to help Molly in this state, he needed to turn off his emotions and access the reasonable part of his brain.

"What could  _you_  possibly need my help with?" Sherlock sat across from him, crossing his legs and watching Jim carefully. He was smart enough not to flat out refuse Jim at least.

"Molly's been taken. We need to find her…  _now._ "

"What do you mean Molly's been taken?" Sherlock was instantly more alert. His eyes narrowed on Jim, realization dawning in his eyes. Practically growling an answer at Jim he shook his head. "Of course.  _You're_  the one she's been dating. Jameson. I'm so dense, I should have seen through that immediately."

"Yes, Molly and I have been together. Since I came back. Give or take a few months. But now's not the time for this. Someone has her and they're going to kill her. They're torturing her Sherlock."

"You know this for certain?"

"They video called me through Skype and made me watch as they stabbed her and beat her." he said, hands clenched tightly in his lap. "It was made obvious they were deadly serious."

"I'll help you." Sherlock agreed, standing up. "For Molly's sake. But you need to promise me one thing."

"What?" Jim snarled, his patience wearing thin.

"After this, if Molly doesn't want anything to do with you, you'll let her go."

Glaring at him, Jim stood up. Standing toe to toe with the detective, he accused "You have feelings for her."

"Yes. I do. And if you cared about her as well you'd agree."

"I promise you. Now let's go. The more time we waste here is more time for them to potentially kill Molly. I think we can both agree that's not what we want."

Sherlock grabbed his coat, hurrying out the door with Jim close on his heels. Sebastian was waiting in the car and Jim cast him a cold glare as he climbed back in. "Get us to Molly's. We can figure out our first move from there." Sebastian knew better than to answer, he focused on the road and got them to Molly's as quickly as he possibly could.

"Could you tell where they had her from the video?" Sherlock asked Jim.

"A warehouse most likely. It was very dark wherever she was."

Sherlock turned to face forward again, silently racking his brain for a list of areas in London where there would be abandoned warehouses. "There's too many!" Sherlock yelled as he got frustrated. "We need them to call again, I need to be able to analyze the video myself."

"Well I don't exactly have them on speed dial." Jim snapped, "Let's just hope they contact us soon. Because if not we're going to every fucking warehouse in London until we find them." Jim pulled out his phone and dialed Ranger. "I want you and Vin to get everyone I have working for me driving around any areas with warehouses. If you spot a cab around any of them you call me immediately." He knew it would be a bust before he finished the orders. But he had to do something. He wouldn't just leave Molly to suffer. He had to save her. He  _had_  to.


	24. Chapter 24

It had been hours since they had last called Jim. At least, she thought it had been hours. Time had lost all meaning for her. "Focus bitch!" Zoe slashed the knife on Molly's arm to get her attention. It was one of many cuts at this point. Molly's head felt light, and she wondered if she would die before they got around to calling Jim again.

Her clothing was wet and sticky with blood, clinging to her like glue as it dried. If she had to guess she was sure she had some broken ribs from where Brian had repeatedly hit her. It hurt to breathe, each breath bringing her one step closer to blacking out from the pain. She'd always assumed that there was a certain point during torture where it ceased to be painful. A kind of zoned out nirvana for lack of a better description. If that was the case, she hadn't reached that level of pain yet. She wasn't sure it would be worth it, she already felt like she was dead. She'd never known pain like this could exist. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could endure.

"I think it's time to call your boyfriend again. You look ready to keel over any minute now. What a disappointment." Zoe rolled her eyes. "We haven't even broken out the heavy artillery yet." Molly watched in horror as Zoe left and returned with a taser. Brian pulled out the tablet and connected to Jim's Skype.

He focused it on Molly as Zoe pressed the taser into Molly's broken ribs. Her screams didn't even sound like her voice. They reminded her of an animal. Her eyes rolled back into her head as the pain became too much to bear and a hard slap from Zoe brought her back to reality. "Because we're so nice. We're going to let you say goodbye to him. Thank Brian. If it were me I'd cut your throat right here and make him watch as you choke on your own blood."

Brian stepped forward so he was closer to Molly and motioned for her to talk. She could hear Jim telling her to be strong, that he would come for her. She could tell he was crying, because his voice had never shook the way it was now. "Jim…" She tried, her voice coming out small and strained. "I want you to let go of me. Let go. I don't want you to watch me die. Whatever they do to me is fine, but please… just let me go." Tears streaked down her face, hot against her skin.

"You stop that bullshit right now Molly Hooper!" She could hear him screaming at her and she attempted to shush him. "Jim. Just… if this is the last time I talk to you I want you to know I loved you more than anything in this world." She noticed Brian motioning for her to wrap it up. "I just wish we could have gone on Holiday together just once." She spoke quickly and Brian turned the camera down, focusing on her injuries.

"I want you to remember this sight." Brian spoke, laughing as Zoe stuck her knife into Molly's leg, pulling it out slowly while Molly cried. "Remember how it feels to lose someone you love. Because this is one of the last times you're ever going to see her. I didn't get a proper funeral for my mom, because you blew her up. And you're not going to get a proper funeral for  _her_  either. We'll talk to you again soon." With that he clicked off the screen and set the tablet down on a table in the room.

"Give her a break Zoe. We'll come back in a bit. We need to relax and get some food."

"Are you kidding me, let's finish this bitch off."

"Enough!" Brian yelled and Zoe straightened up immediately. "She didn't do anything to you personally. Stop blaming her for Tom's death. He knew what the risks were, and so did you."

"Fuck you." Zoe shot back at him. "You know what? You're right, I do need a break. I'll be back." Brian tried to stop her, but Zoe stormed out regardless.

Molly felt like she was going to puke as Brian walked back up to her once Zoe had disappeared. Flinching away from him as he leaned towards her he gently turned her face up towards him, tracing a thumb over her nose, which was definitely broken.

"I'm sorry Molly." He spoke softly, a few tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry. I hope you understand why this is necessary. Forgive me."

"You can still let me go." Molly gasped out. "I won't tell anyone. If you let me go, Jim won't come after you. I promise." Her eyelids felt so heavy. She'd never wanted sleep more in her entire life.

"I can't. I honestly wish it didn't have to be you. Just know that." With that Brian left her there in the darkness and Molly closed her eyes, knowing if she fell asleep there was a chance she might not wake up again. She hoped she  _didn't_  wake up again. She hoped Zoe didn't get the satisfaction of slitting her throat like she wanted to. And mostly she hoped if she died while she slept, that Jim wouldn't have to see her like this again.


	25. Chapter 25

"I know where she is." Jim wiped at his eyes and stood up as soon as they ended the call. "Let's go."

"What? How could you  _possibly_  know? I didn't get any information out of that. None that's helpful at least."

"Holiday, Sherlock! Holiday!" Jim actually smiled for a moment, running down the stairs of Molly's apartment building. "The warehouses in Hayes Sebastian. Drive." Jim ordered as the three men hurried into the car.

"Holiday?" Sherlock looked like he was desperately trying to put the pieces together and kept coming up short.

"It's a code word. One of many that I had her memorize in case something should happen. The list was fairly innocuous, words she could use in regular conversation. That way I could know where she was if she was ever in trouble. Holiday was our word for west London. She's in Hayes I'm sure of it." Jim punched the back of the car seat and shook his head. "That's my girl. I'm so proud of her."

"Molly always  _was_  more intelligent than I gave her credit for." Sherlock shook his head. "Even while being tortured she remembered. I really should stop underestimating her."

Jim tried not to get upset as Sherlock talked about her. As if he really knew Molly. He was always telling her how her mouth was too big for her face, always making her feel like crap until Jim got her to stand up for herself. And he had the nerve to act like he was better for her than Jim was.

Pushing the thoughts aside Jim focused on the task at hand. "We just need to hope she's still holding on and that we can get to her in time. If they Skype us and notice we're driving we're fucked."

"We're almost there." Sebastian spoke as if on cue.

"Good. When we get there we'll try to figure out which one it could be. We need to be extremely quiet. If we even slightly tip them off, they'll kill her. Do you have a gun?" Jim asked Sherlock, who shook his head no in response. Jim leaned over to the front seat and grabbed a handgun from the glove box, passing it to Sherlock.

"I know you know how to use one of those. You proved that with Magnussen." Jim smirked to himself. "Don't be afraid to pull the trigger again this time."

"I won't be." Sherlock assured him with a grim smile. "If anything happened to Molly I wouldn't be able to bear it. Regardless of whether or not I may have developed feelings for her, she's a friend. And friendship is something important to me. I don't have many friends. I'd like to keep the ones I  _do_  have around."

Jim nodded, knowing that was Sherlock's way of thanking him. They really were just alike in some ways. "Who'd have thought we'd be on the same side, even once?"

"I did." Sherlock answered. "If we're mirror images of one another like you think, then you have as much potential to do good as I have to do evil."

"We're here." Sebastian pulled to a stop. "We're a few blocks from the nearest warehouse. I didn't want them hearing the car."

"Let's go." Jim pulled out his own gun, allowing Sebastian to lead the way. Sherlock studied the warehouses they passed, taking in any small detail that could lead them to where Molly was. Dropping to the ground he turned some dirt over in his fingers. "This is the one." He picked up the pace as he hurried towards the building in front of them. "The soil was disturbed very recently. She has to be here." Sherlock whispered, the explanation enough for Jim and Sebastian.

Sebastian led the way, Jim following behind him, and Sherlock bringing up the rear. The three of them walked slowly, as silently as they could, all of them carefully listening for any noise. "Footsteps." Sebastian whispered, the three of them ducking into a doorway and waiting. After a moment a female walked past the door. Waiting a moment they followed the direction she came from.

"I might kiss you Sherlock." Jim whispered. "I knew bringing you would come in handy."

"Yes, well, the soil was a dead giveaway." Sherlock whispered back.

Sebastian peeked into a doorway and motioned for Jim to look. They'd found the main area of the warehouse. From where he was, Jim could see Molly hunched forward in the chair, her once white shirt stained dark red with her blood.

His breath caught in his throat and he leaned against the wall on their side of the door. She was dead. He hadn't been able to get to her in time, even with her using the code word. "No… No. No. No. No." He whispered the word to himself over and over, the world starting to spin around him.

Sebastian grabbed Jim, slapping him as hard as he could. "You stop it." Sebastian ordered Jim, finding his courage for the first time since Molly had been kidnapped. "She's not dead. We don't know that by just looking into the room. Don't you  _dare_  give up when we're right here." Sebastian growled. "This isn't you. Molly needs you to be strong. Now man the fuck up and let's go get some revenge on these pieces of shit."

Jim met Seb's eyes, bringing his hands up to Sebastian's face and slowly nodding. "You're right." He smiled at his sniper and took a deep breath to steady himself. "Let's go."

"You're damn right I'm right. Come on." Sebastian motioned for them to follow him and the three men silently filed into the dark room.


End file.
